The usual news outlets are buzzing about the new Iraqi constitution that was passed. I’d like to make a few points about this document before we move on. I say the following because, as usual, the media is to quick to gloss over the facts and break things down for easy consumption (after all we’re morons).
- The new constitution is interim. This means that it’s merely an in-between until elections can be held and a real constitution can be completed.
- Nobody, that I know of, has seen the actual wording of this document (more on this later).
First off, don’t get me wrong, I think this is a good first step towards establishing a more Democratic nation in Iraq. I use the word “more” because the chances of an Arabic nation being truly Democratic is somewhat of an oxymoron in my opinion. We just need to remember that this is just the first step in what will likely be a long process.
While surfing the net I found a site that has, what it reports, as a scanned copy of a rough draft of the constitution. The very first thing that struck me was that it, basically, lays the ground work for a civil war. It says that the Federal Republic of Iraq will consist of two regions: The Arabic Region and The Kurdish Region. There’s a bright idea. By breaking the country into two regions based on ethnicity you’re just asking for trouble.
At any rate, the document is only 13 pages and an easy read. I suggest everyone read it over since this is basically all we have to show for the billions of dollars we’ve spent and the hundreds of lives lost. Unless your a Haliburton CEO – if you are then you also have a few uncontested multi-billion dollar contracts to snuggle up to as well.
