[JURIST] Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [BBC profile], now on a visit to the United States, insisted Friday at a Washington press conference that if the draft Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive] is not adopted in a referendum next month there would be no civil war in Iraq. Talabani's comments came on the same day that lawmakers in Iraq said that an amended version of the draft Iraqi constitution was ready for final approval [JURIST report]. Talabani said that if the referendum failed, there would simply be a new national assembly elected to draft another constitution, but he called critics who opposed the charter's proposed federation "narrow-minded Arab nationalists who don't understand the spirit of the new era." Listen to complete recorded audio of the press conference from the Voice of America or read the full transcript [PDF]. VOA has more.