Posted on 08/23/2005 12:45:50 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Is Iraq moving, inch by inch, towards becoming an Islamic republic? it is a prospect that is as unsettling for many Iraqis as it is for George Bush in the White House.
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq was a centralised and largely secular state.
Now, if the Shia religious parties get their way, it will be a decentralised state with a pronounced Islamic identity.
The draft of the new constitution describes Islam as "a main source" of legislation and stipulates that no law may contradict Islamic principles.
It also says a group of provinces is entitled to form a "region", which can then expect a specified share of the national budget.
Federalism
All this amounts to a radical change, and inevitably it is arousing strong passions.
The two groups who dominate the new Iraq - the Kurds and the Shia religious parties - have an obvious interest in breaking with the past.
The Kurds want to cement, and if possible extend, the autonomy they have enjoyed in the north for over a decade.
The Shia religious parties want to reverse the secularising policies of Saddam, and they want the mainly Shia south to get a bigger slice of the area's oil wealth.
Some Shia are even calling for a "super-region" stretching from Baghdad to the border with Kuwait and embracing the country's biggest oilfields.
This kind of federalism - with an autonomous Kurdistan in the north and a big oil-rich Shia "region" in the south - leaves the minority Sunni Arabs appalled.
They fear being left with a rump mini-state bereft of oil. They also fear the eventual break-up of the country.
At the same time, secular-minded Iraqis - whether Sunni, Shia or Kurd - are deeply concerned about the direction the country is taking.
In many ways, Iraq is already dramatically different from the place it was just a few years ago.
Mixed marriages between Sunni and Shia, once taken for granted, are becoming problematic.
In many parts of the country, women dare not walk bare-headed in the street.
And reports from parts of the lawless north-west paint a grim picture of Taliban-style rule by radical Sunni militants.
Worried neighbours
Iraq's Sunni neighbours find all of this troubling.
There is no tradition in the Arab world of a successful decentralised state.
The fear is that a weak multi-ethnic, multi-confessional state will go the way of Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s - and descend into civil war.
Sunni rulers in Riyadh, Amman, Cairo and elsewhere believe the one country to benefit from the disintegration of Iraq is Shia Iran.
George Bush, meanwhile, is faced with some unpalatable choices.
He is determined to stick to a tight political timetable which would enable him to start withdrawing US troops from Iraq next year.
But will his rush to come up with an "exit strategy" force him to abandon the aspiration to create a modern secular democracy out of the ashes of the Saddam dictatorship?
Under Saddam, it wasn't anything but a centralised killing and torture machine.
Islam is bad -- except in Iraq and except when it's made the "main source" of law in the Iraq constitution? Is that the belief around here? Consistency has never been the strong point of many of the supporters of the invasion of Iraq.
Welcome to the world's newest Islamic republic, paid for by the blood of young Americans.
>>force him to abandon the aspiration to create a modern secular democracy
Force? It's done. Over. Kaput. Enter Sharia, covered head to toe in black.
Imagine, Khalilzad, the US Ambassador had to strongarm the Kurds into moderating their strong secularistic stances.
IF Iraq becomes an islamic nation, that is fine with me as long as they are peaceful. IF they become a threat, we should stomp them again and again until they stop.
IF Iraq becomes an islamic nation, that is fine with me as long as they are peaceful. IF they become a threat, we should stomp them again and again until they stop.
A little melodramtic. I'd expect no less from the democrats and the media.
From NRO:
READ IT AND DON’T WEEP [Rich Lowry ]
A cooler head following the process closely sends along these points about the Iraqi constitution, at least as of Sunday evening (it’s obviously a moving target):
The Afghanistan Constitution contains strong Islam-based provisions, including a blanket provision saying: ‘In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.’ But the Afghan constitution also contains strong human rights protections and is facilitating the emergence of a peaceful and vibrant democracy.
--The Iraq draft appears to be similar. In addition to the broad bill of rights, our translation of the Islam provision states that ‘no law shall be enacted that contradicts [Islam’s] established provisions, the principles of democracy, [or] the rights and basic freedoms stipulated in this constitution.’ This is actually a better formulation than Afghanistan’s model.
-- The same provision also protects ‘all the religious rights of all individuals in the freedom of belief and religious practice’ – a provision consistent with international standards and identical to the widely praised Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), the interim constitution signed by the Iraq Interim Governing Council in 2004.
-- In addition, Islam is declared to be ‘a’ – not ‘the’– source of legislation, a victory to secularists and roughly in line with the TAL formulation.
--Finally, we are confident that the final interpreters of the Iraqi constitution will be non-religious based courts and the elected legislature – not unelected clerics.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/
Yeah an Islamic reguime will make it all better (see Iran)
Frankly, if that "modern secular democracy" is abandoned, all the sacrifices of our brave troops will have been for naught. They essentially will have fought to establish an Islamist dictatorship. .....all because we were too obsessed with winning "hearts and minds" (that can never be won) to take off our gloves.
The CIC better right the ship, and pronto.
Hey, thanks for that. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach about the islamification of Iraq. I don't feel *quite* so bad now.
And notice, no one gave a hoot when Afghanistan's constitution was being drafted.
Isn't it Ironic?
Why don't we offer all the women who want a better life the opportunity to leave the country and live here, without the men, and leave the power hungary little boys who get their kicks lording it over women and children there to stew in there own S___?
Glad to hear the true facts, RR. Although I'm sure they'll be ignored by the Chicken Little Brigade.
Tha really should have been the goal right from the very beginning, and Iran is most definitely a threat to us, which I think is why they're part of the Axis of Evil.
I'm just not sure that I put much stock in this "report"
from BBC.
Iraq will not become an islamic theocratic state as in Iran or Saudi Arabia. All the islamic countries in the world have Islam as a main source if not the main source for civil laws ruling like marriage, divorce, etc... Even Turkey the most secular country in the islamic world adopts the islamic laws for such civil law cases. The Iraqi draft constitution clearly indicates that islam is a main source but not the main source for civil laws. As in our case, the Judeo- Chrisitan traditions has greatly influenced our founding fathers writing of laws and the Constitution, so expect the same with islam in an islamic country. The text of Iraq draft constitution is clear in providing equal rights for everyone regardless of their religion, ethnicity, or background. Even more, there is a clause in the constitution that said that no less than 25% of Counsil of Deputies members shall be women. So stop buying this left wing propaganda and spreading it here on FR.
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