"We are more inclined to hate one another for points on which we differ, than to love one another for points on which we agree."
- Charles C. Colton (1780-1832), English author & clergyman
Rajiv Chandraswekaran reports the Iraqis are having some difficulty as they attempt to meet the deadline on completing their interim constitution. Chandraswekaran's Washington Post article indicates that disputes over women's rights are a major hang-up:
"The disagreement stemmed from a decison to vote on a resolution introduced by some Shiites that would have imposed sharia, or Islamic law, in adjudicating divorces, inheritances and other family matters. When the resolution was rejected by Sunni members and a few liberal Shiites, two dozen women who had been invited into the council chamber erupted into applause, prompting the eight Shiite members to leave."
I remember being surprised when the Afghans were able to work through their differences and draft a constitution last month. I had a similar lack of confidence in the Iraqis' ability to complete theirs. It appears my pessimism wasn't totally unwarranted, but why shouldn't they be having trouble?
There are those who will point to the Iraqi difficulties with this task and say, "See! I told you! There's no way they're going to make this happen!" I would respond by saying we'd also have problems if suddenly we had no constitution and were asked to write one.
Imagine a convention as diverse as Hillary Clinton, Ann Coulter, Louis Farrakhan, Thomas Sowell, Tim Robbins, James Woods, Molly Ivins, George Will, Roy Moore, Gavin Newsom, Ted Kennedy, Tom DeLay, Gore Vidal, William F. Buckley, Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, Jessie Jackson, Pat Buchanan, Barbara Striesand, Charlie Pride, Noam Chomsky and Clarence Thomas.
How long before we'd see their first draft? Possibly never.
2 comments:
Let's hope the Iraqis can form a new government a little sooner than that. :) But I do think we're looking at serious problems with the transition. I doubt tht other countries or the UN are going to find Paul Bremer's occupation administration a model for future "nation-building" transitions like this. It was a big mistake to put so many political appointtees there; many of them don't even speak Arabic, and have minimal background for their jobs. - Bruce
Great point. Sounds like they've worked out some of the issues, though the degree to which it includes religious law, and the fact that the document diminishes women's roles are a bit of a concern. But compromise happened, I guess and baby steps toward progress are better than none. I hope it's the beginning of Iraq's forward progress, however, and not the beginning of a relapse into Islamic fundamentalishm
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