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August 21, 2005
Troublesome Thoughts
Andrew McCarthy has not been happy with the direction the US is taking in the war on terror. As further evidence he cites this Washington Post story (all emphases mine):
Kurdish politicians negotiating a draft constitution criticized the U.S. ambassador to Iraq on Saturday for allegedly pushing them to accept too great a role for Islamic law in his drive to complete the charter on time.
Although a Sunni delegate made similar charges, U.S. officials declined to comment publicly while they worked with politicians as a Monday deadline loomed. [...]
Kurds also contend that provisions in the draft would allow Islamic clerics to serve on the high court, which would interpret the constitution. That would potentially subject marriage, divorce, inheritance and other civil matters to religious law and could harm women's rights, according to the Kurdish negotiators and some women's groups.
Khalilzad supported those provisions and urged other groups to accept them, according to Kurds involved in the talks.
"Really, we are disappointed with that. It seems like the Americans want to have a constitution at any cost," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the constitutional committee. "These things are not good -- giving the constitution an Islamic face.
Other delegates also complained about pressure from Khalilzad.
"His main interest is to push the constitution on time, no matter what the constitution has in it,'' said Salih Mutlak, a Sunni delegate who has been outspoken against some compromise proposals.
"No country in the world can draft their constitution in three months. They themselves took 10 years," Mutlak said, referring to the United States. "Why do they wish to impose a silly constitution on us?"
Now, these are individual delegates' opinions and interpretations. They could be motivated by their own agendas; even if sincere, those comments and their implications might take a different turn in reality. And, I'm certainly not qualified to do an in-depth cultural analysis of the interrelationships of all the factions in Iraq.
But there are a couple of big picture issues here that bother me a lot. There is a strong sense here that the constitution is being rushed to completion on an American schedule. As the Iraqi told Austin Bay and as delegate Mutlak pointed out, writing an effective and fair constitution has taken other countries years.
And secondly, there is the baffling US acquiescence to the idea of an official Islamic presence in the government when there are considerable segments of the society who oppose it. Andrew McCarthy:
It is not our place to fix what ails Islam. But it is utter recklessness to avert our eyes from the fact that militant Islam thrives wherever Islam reigns. That is a fact. When and where militant Islam thrives, America and the West are endangered. That is also a fact. How can we possibly be urging people who wisely don’t want it to accept the government-institutionalized supremacy of Islam?
If these reports prove to be true, I will have some serious personal analysis to do. I and millions of other people in this country (both Republicans and Democrats) are gravely concerned with the current inability of the US to control its borders. If it turns out the administration is pushing a flawed constitution on the Iraqis just for the sake of political expediency, the combination of these two issues might cause a sea change in my evaluation of this president.
But don't worry, I won't be joining Cindy Sheehan's camp.
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