“
We the people of Iraq […] undertake to establish our Union freely and by choice”
[i]. Such is the first few words of an extravaganza of freedom, choice and the right to a better
Iraq. Some would call it profound and the will of the people, while others would merely see the proposed constitution as a spin-off of the Constitution of the
United States of America, freely copied and mended by few learned elders, carefully selected by the
United States of America in order to establish a legitimatized reason for a lost crusade for democracy.
When the founding fathers sat down nearly 230 years ago and created the constitution, they had two things in common: They wanted to create a stronger union and they represented the people whose state they came from. While their differences were many more, they managed to create what stands today – a document that have bound people together under one common identity in the United States – The Identity in support of freedom, liberty and choice. Today, the people of Iraq have been proposed a more comprehensive version of this philosophy of a constitution. The only problem is – it did not come from the people but from a selected few – one question remains, will it stay afloat?
In order to understand this difference of origin we must first understand the identity of Iraq today and ask ourselves whether the sons of Iraq are ready to leave past ideology behind and adopt these ideals of freedom and a federal state divided in three branches of government: The Legislative, The Executive and The Judiciary – all of whom are separated from one another and derive their power from the people of Iraq. This being juxtaposition to the will of one, dictating his philosophy to the proletariat.
The draft constitution at hand is 25 pages long and creates a government similar to what we see in western countries such as The Netherlands, Denmark and England to a great extent. Assuming the constitution would be implemented as is; it would create a representational figure called “President”. The Legislative branch is divided into two branches: The Council of Representatives (Parliament) and the Council of Union. The Executive Branch has a Prime Minister as its formal leader, and behind him he has his appointed ministers. Lastly we have the Judiciary which is the independent branch devout to the protection of the constitution of Iraq.
This must be viewed in the lights of the recent 100 years[ii]:
If one goes even further back in history, one will find that Iraq time after time has been dealt a bad hand. Empires and worriers have again and again trampled upon the Iraqi soul and the Iraqis have rarely found time for freedom. The latest regime of Saddam Hussein lasted for 25 years and left people of Iraq in a poor shape. In the light of these most recent years one must also understand that the last thing the people of Iraq needs are imposed values by a superior military force and a puppet government. It is time for Iraq to find a common identity, yet the only way this seems possible is to find an identity within the realm of Islam. Now the question remains: Does Islam contradict democracy?
“This world is not big enough for the two of us!”[iii]
The obvious answer to the above is no. Contrary to what many westerners and Americans may believe today, Islam is not a religion of hatred and demeaning values. It is a religion of love and respect for the almighty Allah and the Holy Koran which preaches equality and stands on pillars of devotion and caring for those who have less. If we were to look at fairy tales, one could with reason compare the Holy Koran with the story of Robin Hood who preaches kindness and charity to needy people.
Yet our picture is so different of the reality of the Middle Eastern values and the current situation of Iraq. Those pictures are based amongst many things on accumulated traditions in Islam that are demeaning to women and human rights. We see the law of Shari’ah carried out in Saudi Arabia, dismembering people and torturing those who do not fall in line. This is the homeland of Muslims and Mohammad the prophet. This is the land that one would expect would preach the very morals of the Holy Koran. While Saudi Arabia very much preaches these morals, one must understand that the Wahabi movement in Saudi Arabia is distinctly more conservative then what we see elsewhere in the Muslim world. They adhere to a literalist interpretation of the Holy Koran equivalent to what we see in extreme constitutional law in today’s USA. The closest Supreme Court Justice to this conservative movement would be Justice Scalia who does not adhere to literalism but original intent.
When talking about the new draft constitution in Iraq, on first have to look to the structure of the Iraqi people. 97% of the population in Iraq is Muslim, 63% of whom are Shiite Muslim. 34% of the population is Sunni and the remaining 3% generally consist of Christians. There are about 75% Arabs and 20% Kurds in Iraq. The remaining 5% consist of Assyrians and others.[iv] The committee for writing the constitution has changed but initially only contained two Sunni members out of 55 total members. After June 16th, 2005, the number was increased to 17 members out of 71 total members. The Shiites has 28 members and the remaining 26 members are scattered between Kurds and many others. The initial unequal representation of the committee’s members of the population of Iraq created much disregard to their work. Today, the committee is far more representative of Iraq and the current result is terrific. Unfortunately the majority of the Sunni’s in Iraq does not agree and this can very much be seen in the civic unrest in Iraq.[v]
The unhappiness amongst the people has driven them toward various militia groups, toward various would-be war lords, toward the various Muqtada al-Sadr of Iraq. Their main concerns are mostly over the failure of this government and the United States in Iraq. And in many cases, the people do not necessarily distinguish between the two, which is a problem for the Iraqi government. It's the failure of those two entities to provide basic security and basic services, like jobs, electricity, water, gasoline, et cetera that continuously spur anger, blood and death.
The Draft Constitution of Iraq is in its entirety admirable. It is comprehensive and covers the rights of minorities, women, children and general people. The Constitution creates branches of government, and guarantee free healthcare and education for its people. It is a “Constitution from the high values and ideals of the heavenly message”[vi]. It gives rights to the people and allows for the creation of worker unions. This is a Draft Constitution better then any constitution in the world that would truly venerate its people. Yet I find that it lacks one thing and one thing only. It lacks the people. The Constitution should be the product of the people but it is not. One cannot impose a perfect system. It must develop form within, and from the will of the people.
“So there you have it, western democracy… Ehh will you clean up the mess?”[vii]
More then any time in recent history, the people of Iraq’s destiny is not of their choosing. They did not seek nor did they provoke an assault on their freedom and their way of life. They did not expect nor did they invite a confrontation with the evil that we see spurring in the streets of Baghdad, Basra and countless other places today. Yet the true measure of a people’s strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive. Dozens of people sacrifice their life every day in Iraq for what they believe – we have lost track of their fight for freedom and they have merely become a number in the row of people who’s soul are no longer with us in the name of freedom, choice and the right to a better Iraq. Is this the road to democracy?
[i] Iraqi Draft Constitution as translated by the Associated Press
[v] Sunnis Agree to Role in Iraq's Constitution Writing; Draft Document Due by Mid-August
From the “Facts on File World News Digest”
[vi] Iraqi Draft Constitution as translated by the Associated Press
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