Iraqis adopt constitution

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's constitution was adopted by a majority in a fair vote during the Oct. 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster enough support to defeat it, election officials said Tuesday. A prominent Sunni politician called the balloting "a farce."\nIraq's most feared terror group, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide attacks that targeted hotels housing Western journalists and contractors in central Baghdad, as well as two suicide bombings in a Kurdish area of northern Iraq on Tuesday.\nThe referendum results, announced after a 10-day audit following allegations of fraud, confirmed previous indications that Sunni Arabs failed to produce the two-thirds "no" vote they would have needed in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces to defeat the constitution.\nThe charter is considered a major step in Iraq's democratic reforms, clearing the way for the election of a new, full-term parliament on Dec. 15. Such steps are important in any decision about the future withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.\nSome fear the victory could enrage many members of the minority and fuel their support for the country's Sunni-led insurgency.\nCarina Perelli, the U.N. elections chief, praised a "very good job" with the audit of results by election officials and said "Iraq should be proud of the commission."\nIraq's top two coalition partners, the United States and Britain, also welcomed the results.\n"It's a landmark day in the history of Iraq," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "We congratulate the Iraqi people. ... The political process is continuing to move forward in Iraq, and it is an encouraging sign to see more and more people participating in the process."\nBritish Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Iraqis "have shown again their determination to defy the terrorists and take part in the democratic process." Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini also welcomed the results, saying Italy would keep supporting the political process in the country.\nTwo suicide car bombs exploded Tuesday in the generally peaceful Kurdish province of Sulaimaniyah, killing 12 people. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.\nThe group led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi also said it was behind the three suicide car bombs aimed at the Palestine and Sheraton hotels.\nIt said it carried out the attack to target a "dirty harbor of intelligence agents and private American, British and Australian security companies," according to a posting on a Web site that carries extremist material.\nIn other Baghdad violence, bombings and shootings killed six people and wounded 45 Iraqis, officials said.\nIraqi and U.S. forces were refortifying the hotel complex, which houses offices of the AP, Fox News and other media organizations, repairing a breach in the blast walls that surround it.\nDeputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal told the AP that 17 people were killed and 10 wounded in the attack.\nFarid Ayar, an official with the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said the audit had turned up no significant fraud.\nSaleh al-Mutlaq, a Sunni Arab member of the committee that drafted the constitution, called the referendum "a farce" and accused government forces of stealing ballot boxes to reduce the percentage of "no" votes in several mostly Sunni provinces.\n"The people were shocked to find out that their vote is worthless because of the major fraud that takes place in Iraq," he said on Al-Arabiya TV.\nAdnan al-Dulaimi, a spokesman for the General Conference for the People of Iraq, a largely Sunni coalition of politicians and tribal leaders, said the audit took so long it left many Sunnis suspicious of possible fraud and manipulation. He said his group "will work to educate Iraqis and get them to participate" in the December vote.\nThe charter was drafted after months of bitter negotiations that ended with some Sunni leaders agreeing to support it with provisions that future changes were possible.\nThe militants kept up their deadly attacks Tuesday.