Although the constitution was ratified, there were complaints by many of the drafters as well as observers that the process was rushed, incomplete and failed to accommodate legitimate Sunni concerns.

Others have complained that some of the more hardline Sunni elements, among them Salih Mutlaq, had demands that were unreasonable, including opposition to a ban on Saddam's Ba'ath party and a refusal to consider any form of federalism beyond the Kurdish region.

A recent article by Hamoudi in the Stanford Law Review suggests that "the majority are not bound to consider all that is demanded by the minority" (italics added).

Certainly, however, it is not clear that Hamoudi, or the Sunnis with whom most of the negotiations are taking place, are very willing to make any compromises of significance at this point in time.

In addition to his role in the constitution, Hamoudi was on the three man committee appointed by the UIA to decide on an alternative to Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in February 2006.