Posted on 08/20/2005 7:48:23 AM PDT by takenoprisoner
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. concessions to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraqi law marked a turn in talks on a constitution, negotiators said on Saturday as they raced to meet a 48-hour deadline under intense U.S. pressure to clinch a deal.
U.S. diplomats, who have insisted the constitution must enshrine ideals of equal rights and democracy, declined comment.
Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish negotiators all said there was accord on a bigger role for Islamic law than Iraq had before.
excerpt
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I am sure the sticking point was protecting women's rights by making sure Iraq supplied state funded burkas. as opposed to them having to purchase one themselves.
U.S. diplomats, who have insisted the constitution must enshrine ideals of equal rights and democracy, declined comment.
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Well, if Islamic law gets in, we might as well never have gone into Iraq. PERIOD. The death of our soldiers will have been a waste.
The Iraqis are
terrified of any form
of government that
might give their country
what free democracy gave
the United States . . .
Fortunately for the Japanese, we were able to impose
our type of constitution on the vanquished, that isn't
possible here, with perhaps tragic results.
This is also reuters, so I take it with a big grain of salt.
Tell 'em if they want to fark up their future with backward theocratic policies, they can do it without our stamp of approval and backing. Threaten to leave.
"Sunni Arab negotiator Saleh al-Mutlak also said a deal was struck which would mean parliament could pass no legislation that "contradicted Islamic principles." A constitutional court would rule on any dispute on that, the Shi'ite official said."
Thank you. As news savvy as most Freepers are, it never ceases to amaze me how a an article from the NYT's, LAT's, Reuters et al can immediately launch normally rational people into loud wailing and gnashing of teeth. I pay as much attention to the written MSM as I do to the MSM nightly news. None.
Agreed. I hope this is not the case...
Unfortunately, the Iraqi's were going to fashion their own brand of democracy filtered through Islam. We knew that from the start but thought it worth the gamble. Only time will tell, but we'd better be prepared to protect this fledgling for quite some time. Giving them a sense of pride and accomplishment as a people would help. Education, universal literacy, jobs, etc.
Agree one hundred percent. Let's wait and re: the facts, but if this is true, it is a travesty.
Exactly. These stories come out, are shown to be false, and disappear without a trace. And still, when the next one comes out, there is always a crowd ready and willing to take it at face value.
I wonder; what is the real truth is about the latest turns in the negotiations?
The MSM is doing such an incredible job reporting from Iraq, I'm sure the article title is not slanted in any way.
If iraq once again becomes a training ground for terrorism, and the U.S. fails to halt all visits to the U.S. by muslims from any country, we are going to be in deep doo doo. With no way out.
The citizens of the U.S. will never again support a P.C. war. Not ever.
Destroy them mercilessly or surrender; those will be the two choices left. No more buying time with young American lives. Not as far as I'm concerned.
Sounds like what the Palestinian spokesmen in the US are already demanding of us. Of course, they reserve the right to obliterate Israel and anyone else they dislike with arms they expect us to provide.
Nah- this is press hyperbole.
The Iraqis will NOT become another Iran if they use Islam as the moral code for their legal system and give clerics an advisory role. "Officially" recognizing clerical advisors as part of the new secular representative government is wise and natural in this culture, and the only way Islam (which unlike Christianity has political as well as spiritual role) will evolve in the modern world (aka, enlightenment...hopefully).
Remember Iraq is an experiment in finding a new, democratic, but "middle way" ... not to clone "our way". Do you want muslim clerics inside the Iraqi parliamentary process...or outside- resenting, and plotting to discredit and challenge it?
And remember when you read these press pieces, that this is the same press corps that considers Pres Bush to be a simple minded fundamentalist and the US to be in danger of Christian theocracy if we have 5 conservatives on the Supreme Court.
Umm. No. Let's not. Let's pretend that we are about protecting and defending liberty, not oppression. No blood for Islamism.
I'm with you.
"And remember when you read these press pieces, that this is the same press corps that considers Pres Bush to be a simple minded fundamentalist and the US to be in danger of Christian theocracy if we have 5 conservatives on the Supreme Court."
I know, and that is why this better not be true. But if it is, and these concessions are being made by our US reps over there, well...I just don't have the words necessary to publish proper here without the expletives.
OTH, if it is a falsehood, Reuters will be totally discredited for good in my view.
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