Kurdish leaders hint at seceding from Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A crisis for the new Iraqi government loomed on Tuesday as Kurdish leaders threatened to withdraw from the Iraqi state unless they receive guarantees against Shiite plans to limit Kurdish self-rule.

In a letter sent to President Bush this week, the two main Kurdish leaders, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, wrote that the Kurds would "refrain from participating in the central government" in Baghdad if any attempt were made by the new Iraqi government to nullify the interim Iraqi constitution that was adopted last March.

Shiite leaders have said repeatedly in recent weeks that they intend to remove key portions of the interim constitution that essentially grant the Kurds veto power over the permanent constitution, which is to be drafted and ratified next year.

The Shiite leaders consider the provisions undemocratic, while the Kurds contend they are their only guarantee of retaining the rights to self-rule they gained over the past 13 years.

In their letter, Talabani and Barzani wrote that the Kurdish leadership would refuse to take part in national elections, expected to be held in January, and bar representatives from coming to "Kurdistan."

That would amount to something like secession, which Kurdish officials have been hinting at privately for months but now appear to be actively considering.

To assure that Kurdish rights are retained, Talabani and Barzani asked Bush to include the interim Iraqi constitution in the U.N. Security Council resolution that governs the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty.

But American officials rejected the Kurdish request, following appeals from Shiite leaders, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, the nation's most powerful Shiite, who threatened "serious consequences" if any such move were undertaken.

That seemed to set the stage for a showdown between Kurdish and Shiite leaders over the future of the Iraqi state.

A senior American official in Washington cautioned against reading the letter as a firm threat to abandon the central government, saying he expected the Kurds and Shiites to reach agreement ultimately.

But in Baghdad, a rupture seemed quite possible. The Shiite leaders, whose people make up a majority in Iraq but who have been historically shut out of power, say the provisions that would allow the Kurdish minority to nullify the constitution would diminish the Shiites' historic opportunity to claim political power.

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Contributing: Steven R. Weisman.