From CNN:

Members of Iraq’s national assembly late Monday passed by unanimous vote an extension allowing an extra week to complete talks on the country’s new constitution.

The committee drafting the document had asked for an extension after it failed to reach a compromise by Monday’s deadline after months of talks. The new deadline is August 22.

Without the extension, the government would have dissolved, requiring new elections in December and starting the process again.

Two Shiite officials told The Associated Press earlier Monday that Iraqi politicians had agreed on a draft constitution but delayed a decision on two key issues. The president’s office told CNN no such deal had been reached.

[…] Mowafak al-Rubaie, the national security adviser, said federalism—which would give some ethnic groups more autonomy—and the role of Islamic law in the new government would not derail assembly efforts to complete the draft of a new constitution.

[…] Al-Rubaie earlier insisted the assembly would resolve the sticking points and meet its Monday deadline.

He said the commission had agreed that, “a decentralized system and federal system is the best way forward,” and Islamic law will not be a dealbreaker.

Al-Rubaie downplayed the role of Islam in the legislative process. He said that the commission agreed on the principle that legislation should not “contradict Islam.”

The issue has been raised by Western powers—and some Iraqis—that the constitution will support Islam’s Sharia law, which imposes severe restrictions, particularly on women.

“The issue of religion has been over-emphasized,” al-Rubaie said. “We are not drafting a constitution for America. We are drafting a constitution for Iraq. And the majority of Iraqis are Muslims. And the majority of those are serious, practicing Muslims.”

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, speaking Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he had “every expectation” the document would include equal rights to men and women “and that our efforts and the effort of many women here in Iraq and the international community will ultimately pay off on this score.”

This delay is a setback for the Bush Administration, particularly on the PR front, but so long as the constitution gets done in such a way that equal rights for men and women are assured, Sharia law is not codified, and basic human rights for minorities are legally protected, I’ll be satisfied that the sacrifice of coalition forces and the vast majority of Iraqis who’ve been supportive of the incipient democratic state will not have been for naught.