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If not for milestones and anniversaries, I’m not quite sure how much is left for today’s reporter to report. And if not to serve as the veritable conscience of society, then what, pray tell, would his or her purpose be? I suppose that to suggest a reporter’s function is to actually disseminate what is going on is to refute his or her greater role in society – something more than a mere observer, collector and teller of news. Thanks, in part, to the guiding light cast from the Watergate template, those who once simply reported on events now aspire to...

Cindy Sheehan, Tom Hayden, and the Hate America Left meet with pro-Ba'athist members of the Iraqi parliament to discuss “peace.” TO FIND PEOPLE WHO HATE AMERICA AS MUCH AS THEY DO, the Fifth Column Left had to go halfway around the world to meet with Iraqi political leaders who call terrorism “honorable national resistance” and say foreign jihadists “are guaranteed Paradise” – and at least one of whom has ties to militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr. By the end of the trip, the American leftists would echo these sentiments. Somehow most of the media – occupied with interminable coverage of Hurricane...

Even before Iraq’s constitution was ratified, dire predictions were being made that it would pave the way for the creation of an Islamic theocracy. But while there may be a number of issues in the constitution that could conceivably pose problems for the future of Iraq, the role of Islam in the state is not likely to be one of them. The truth is that despite grumblings from those who were expecting a secular, liberal democracy to arise fully formed in the midst of a bloody and chaotic occupation, the constitution of Iraq is nothing short of a miracle. This...

* Influential Shia cleric maintains anti-US stand BAGHDAD: Influential Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said he rejects the Iraqi constitution backed by his partners in the biggest parliamentary bloc, threatening to reignite one of the country’s most explosive issues. “I reject this constitution which calls for sectarianism and there is nothing good in this constitution at all,” he told Al Jazeera television late on Saturday. Sadr, a rebel leader turned political kingmaker, said the charter was unacceptable, complicating efforts to form a government more than two months after parliamentary elections. “If there is a democratic government in Iraq, nobody has the...

Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said he rejects the Iraqi constitution backed by his partners in the biggest parliamentary bloc, threatening to reignite one of the country's most explosive issues. Sadr, a rebel leader turned political kingmaker, said the charter was unacceptable, complicating efforts to form a government more than two months after parliamentary elections. The young cleric, who led two armed uprisings against U.S. and Iraqi troops, has emerged as a potent force in Iraqi politics, joining the powerful United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which won 128 of 275 seats in parliament in December 15 polls. A swing vote by...

January/February 2006 Summary: Although questions of implementation remain, the new Iraqi constitution makes Islam the law of the land. This need not mean trouble for Iraq's women, however. Sharia is open to a wide range of interpretations, some quite egalitarian. If Washington still hopes for a liberal order in Iraq, it should start working with progressive Muslim scholars to advance women's rights through religious channels. ISOBEL COLEMAN is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Women and U.S. Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. THE IMPACT OF SHARIA Article 14 of Iraq's new constitution, approved in a...

WASHINGTON and Baghdad will be tempted, with the adoption of a new Constitution and the election on Thursday for a four-year government, to declare victory in Iraq. In one sense, they are right to do so. The emerging Iraqi polity undoubtedly represents a radical break not only with the country's past but also with the whole Arab state system established by Britain and France after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. But in the larger sense, such optimism is misguided, for none of the problems associated with Iraq's monumental change have been sorted out. Worse, profound tensions and contradictions have...

With a population of 5 million in an area larger than Switzerland or twice the size of New Jersey, it is surprising that this region remains largely undiscovered and commercially untapped. The Government and the peoples of Kurdistan invite you to discover their peaceful region, a place that has practiced democracy for over a decade, a place where the universities, markets, cafes and fair grounds buzz with progress and prosperity and where the people are already sowing the seeds of a brighter future. Update on Developments in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq The Kurdistan Region in Iraq is developing at...

AR RAMADI, Iraq (Nov. 2, 2005) -- Over 200,000 Iraqi people in Al Anbar Province recently made their way to polling sites for Iraq’s Constitutional Referendum. The voters safely made their voices heard without even seeing the forces that were instrumental in making it possible. In response to a request from the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq and the Ministry of Interior, the 2nd Marine Division deployed several election support elements comprised of Marines, Sailors and Soldiers throughout the province. These teams provided behind-the-scenes logistics support and ensured poll workers and material moved unimpeded between polling sites. According to the...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi election officials defied a new upsurge of violence and held a televised lottery on Tuesday to determine the order in which more than 200 parties will appear on ballot papers at December 15 elections. In the run-up to the elections to choose the first full four-year parliament since the fall of Saddam Hussein, parties were hoping for a low number in the ballot, which would put their name near the top of the list, or something distinctive that would catch the attention of voters. The highly theatrical public display of election transparency in the new Iraq...

  For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryOctober 29, 2005 President's Radio Address      Audio      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week marked another important milestone in carrying out our strategy in Iraq. On Tuesday, the Iraqi election commission formerly certified the passage of the new Iraqi constitution, after nearly 10 million Iraqis turned out to vote on it two weeks ago. This is a moment of tremendous significance for Iraq, the region, and the world. Three years ago, when Saddam Hussein ruled with an iron grip, the prospect of Iraqis voting on a democratic constitution would have been unthinkable. Now,...

THE MAJOR story in the national press yesterday was the death of Sgt. George Alexander Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas, though his name was not always mentioned in the reports. Sgt. Alexander was America's 2,000th military death in Iraq. Much is remarkable about the men and women who have died in our ongoing effort to liberate Iraq. Most remarkable is that every one of them enlisted voluntarily. According to The New York Times, a fifth of the dead had enlisted two, three or four times. Interviews with Iraq veterans who have re-enlisted show how deeply many of them believe in...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2005 – A majority of Iraq's citizens have approved their country's new constitution, an event the top U.S. diplomat called "a remarkable story." Iraqis "achieved yet another step on their march toward democracy," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said to reporters today during a trip Ottawa, Canada. Iraqis voted on the new constitution during an Oct. 15 referendum. The Iraqi government today announced that 78 percent of voters approved the document. Each time Iraqis faced a challenge since the fall of Saddam Hussein they've met it, whether it was in the transfer of sovereignty or the creation...

BAGHDAD, Oct 25: Iraqi voters ratified a new US-backed constitution despite bitter opposition in Sunni areas, results showed on Tuesday. Iraq’s electoral commission, giving final results from the Oct 15 referendum, said 79 per cent of voters backed the constitution against 21 per cent opposed in a poll split largely along sectarian and ethnic lines. Several Shia and Kurdish regions voted between 95 and 99 per cent ‘Yes’; in Sunni-dominated Anbar 97 per cent said ‘No’. Prominent Sunni leaders rejected the referendum as a fraud, warning it could fuel militancy and discourage Sunnis from participating in future elections. Iraqi and...

Iraqi voters have ratified a new constitution by a margin of nearly 4 to 1, election officials announced Tuesday as complete returns showed that the country's disaffected Sunni Arab minority had narrowly failed to muster enough "no" votes in three provinces to block the charter's adoption. The result, declared 10 days after a nationwide referendum, raised cries of protest from some Sunni leaders, who had claimed that the count was being rigged. But Iraqi election officials and U.N. monitors said a selective recount turned up no significant incidents of fraud. Shiite Muslim and ethnic Kurdish politicians leading Iraq's coalition government...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's landmark constitution was adopted by a majority of voters during the country's Oct. 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster enough support to defeat it, election officials said Tuesday. Results released by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq showed that Sunni Arabs, who had sharply opposed the draft document, failed to produce the two-thirds "no" vote they would have needed in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces to defeat it. Nationwide, 78.59 percent voted for the charter while 21.41 percent voted against, the commission said. The charter required a simple majority nationwide with...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 25 - Iraqi electoral officials announced today that a new constitution had been approved by voters, enshrining a legal foundation for the future governance of the country and paving the way for elections for a full-term government in December. Seventy-nine percent of voters approved the constitution in the nationwide referendum held on Oct. 15, the officials said. But the vote was sharply divided along ethnic and sectarian lines. The biggest support came from Shiites and Kurds, who make up about 80 percent of the population, while Sunni Arabs largely rejected the document. The constitution was widely expected...

In yet another setback for the Bush administration, Iraqi electoral officials announced today that voters have approved the new Iraqi Constitution by a margin of 78-to-21 percent. This new bit of bad news will likely drive President George Bush's popularity ratings into the single digits, according to an unnamed expert from a non-partisan, progressive political think-tank. "The Bush foreign policy continues to be fatally-wounded by clarity of purpose, dogged persistence and a pathetic failure to capitulate in the face of opposition," the source said. "At a time when a real leader would be paralyzed with self-doubt over the meaningless deaths...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 -- Iraqi election officials announced Tuesday that voters approved a new constitution in a nationwide referendum 10 days ago, based on a final tally of votes that had been delayed for more than a week while officials recounted ballots and checked for possible irregularities. In other news, the U.S. military also said that two Marines died last Friday when the vehicle in which they were traveling was attacked by a roadside bomb, bringing to 1,999 the number of U.S. military fatalities sustained since the March 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, according to tallies by the Associated...

Oct 25, 2005 — Final results from Iraq's constitutional referendum, as reported by election officials. The name of each province is followed by its capital in parentheses. BAGHDAD (Baghdad) Yes: 77.70 percent No: 22.30 percent Votes cast: 2,120,615. ANBAR (Ramadi): Yes: 3.04 percent. No: 96. 96 percent. Votes cast: 259,919. DIYALA (Baqouba) Yes: 51.27 percent No: 48.73 percent Votes cast: 476,980. SALAHUDDIN (Tikrit) Yes:18.25 percent No: 81.75 percent Votes cast: 510,152. NINEVAH (Mosul) Yes: 44.92 percent No: 55.08 percent Votes cast: 718,758. IRBIL (Irbil) Yes:99.36 percent No: 0.64 percent Votes cast: 830,570. DAHUK (Dahuk) Yes: 99.13 percent No: 0.87 percent...