Iraqi Parliament Gets Draft of Constitution
UPDATE and BUMP UP: Hugh Hewitt interviewed John Eastman a Professor at Chapman University Law School, and a scholar on the American founding. Professor Eastman took a much more in depth look at the problems of our fledgling democracy. It is definitely worth reading.
So now there is a draft Iraqi Constitution. What next? Well, predictably by the end of the week those opposed to success in the War on Terror will be deriding the various short comings of this first effort and announcing that the Bush administration didn't ensure the Iraqi Constitution was to their liking. Never mind the fact that the same pundits would have criticized the administration for being too heavy handed if we pushed every little detail in the process. Those of us who are optimistic about the potential for Democracy in the Middle East will point out how our own country took quite a while to get it right.
For those with short memories here are a few dates to consider:
4 July 1776: Independence Declared - Turned out to be a bit premature
15 November 1777: The Articles of Confederation enacted
1 March 1781: The Articles of Confederation ratified by the last state Maryland
19 October 1781: General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown
3 September 1783: The Treaty of Paris was signed effectively ending the American Revolution and demonstrating British acceptance of our independence.
25 May 1787: In recognition of the inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution Convention was convened.
1 January 1863: President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed slaves only in the states controlled by the Confederacy.
18 December 1865: Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution ratified prohibiting slavery. So, our country existed about 80 years before we figured out that it was wrong to own people as property.
27 February 1922: Nineteenth Amendment enacted granted woman's suffrage.
So before we start passing judgment on the effort to bring various factions together in Iraq we need to bear in mind the failings of our own fore-fathers. If giants like Madison, Jefferson, Franklin, Mason, Adams, etc. couldn't achieve perfect right away, how do we dare demand that from people in a region with no experience in self-rule.
posted by LargeBill at 4:44 PM
5 Comments:
Bill, Comparing the U.S. early years to Iraq is a bad comparison.We were founded on Christian principles, Islam doesn't have the same type of principles. Sharia law which is what they are basing their constitution on is repressive and may inhibit the full democratization of Iraq.
5:16 AM
My point remains that they are at the starting line not the finish. It is nonsensical to expect perfect right off the bat.
Don't get me wrong, I have concerns and would prefer that they start with a more clearly defined separation between church and state. As set up it could go wrong in a hurry. We need to work on the various factions to convince them to modify it prior to ratification. How many of our original states would not ratify our Constitution until the Bill of Rights was enacted? I would press the Kurds to hold out for a clearly defined Bill of Rights.
6:38 AM
Bill I guess we can hope.
6:47 AM
Bill, The reference to slavery in the HH piece was interesting, let's hope it doesn't take a civil war to keep fanatical Islam at bay.
10:59 AM
every little thing...i assume you mean the fact that women are going to basically be property and that no law can violate isalmic law..ok whatever...just seems that after all this we should have had a bigger say--Japan--Germany--all the countries whose butt we kicked we then had a say in how the government was set up and what would and wouldn't be allowed. Just seems really stupid--we could have kept Saddam and had the devil we knew--or we can put an islamic government in power that will mimic Iran--yup ok--great--glad to have been a part of this...
8:33 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home