Posted by andreas from p3EE3C383.dip.t-dialin.net (62.227.195.131) on Monday, September 23, 2002 at 3:33AM :
Where is Kamber's draft "he hopes will become an Iraqi Bill of Rights" ???
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"[...]
The exiles are grappling with tough questions. Emanuel Kamber, a professor of physics at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, decided to focus on political rights and minority rights. He is of Assyrian descent, a community that numbers about 1 million in Iraq. Along with Aiham Alsammarae, who runs an engineering firm in Chicago, Kamber has written a draft of what he hopes will become an Iraqi Bill of Rights. He drew inspiration from the U.S. Bill of Rights as well as U.N. documents.
Most Americans take these rights for granted, Kamber said. "But they don't have these rights in Iraq," he said. "I think it is very important to get them written down."
[...]"
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Exiles plan for post-Hussein Iraq
U.S. aids wide-ranging preparations for new government
Anthony Shadid, John Donnelly, Boston Globe Sunday, September 22, 2002
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Washington -- Scores of Iraqi exiles are quietly planning the future of their homeland after Saddam Hussein -- from war-crimes trials and a transitional ruling council to specific projects like rejuvenating marshes in the south.
The work on the marshes, which were drained under Hussein's orders to disrupt opposition Shiite guerrillas hiding there, has even involved a sympathizer in Iraq covertly gathering water and dirt samples, which were then smuggled out of the country.
The State Department has funded the exiles' work, which began in the spring and intensified this month amid the flurry of activity signaling Washington's determination to oust Hussein.
U.S. officials acknowledge that the planning is designed in part to avoid past mistakes in places like Afghanistan and the Balkans, where U.S. military preparation outpaced civilian efforts. Iraqi participants say they are trying to wrap up initial work by the end of October, when a broad meeting of the Iraqi opposition is planned in Europe.
"Everything is on a fast track. That tells us this work is not academic," said Muhannad Eshaiker, an Iraqi-born architect who lives in Irvine, and is taking part in a group working on democratic principles of a post-Hussein government. "We're talking about weeks instead of months."
The effort, which will eventually cost $5 million, is an attempt to address fears that a post-Hussein aftermath could be messy, and that the administration has done too little to plan for it. Meetings already have taken place in Washington and Surrey, England, and another gathering is set for later this week in Italy.
The State Department believes the six Iraq working groups can lay the groundwork for everything from humanitarian and environmental issues to potentially explosive questions such as amnesty for members of the current government.
The groups also are working on the legitimacy of a transitional government and the outlines of a decentralized, federal government -- a principle the majority of the Iraqi opposition has already embraced.
More than 80 Iraqis are taking part in the planning. They include academics,
physicians, former members of the Iraqi military, and leaders of different opposition groups, some of whom could play leadership roles in a future Iraqi government.
The most worrisome day-after scenarios revolve around the bloodletting that might ensue as Iraqis settle scores from more than two decades of Hussein's rule. Other concerns involve ethnic Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south, which may seek to pull away from the Sunni Muslim-dominated center of Iraq.
There are concerns, too, that a power vacuum could invite another strongman to seize control, a development some exiles fear the U.S. government might accept to forestall chaos.
State Department officials have been careful to reserve a role in such planning for Iraqis inside the country. Even Iraqi exiles acknowledge that the opposition abroad represents only a portion of Iraq's substantial ethnic and religious diversity.
"This needs to be addressed by Iraqis all over," said Dr. Hatem Mukhlis, a surgeon in Binghamton, N.Y. "Who are we to say this is really the way it is going to be?"
The exiles are grappling with tough questions. Emanuel Kamber, a professor of physics at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, decided to focus on political rights and minority rights. He is of Assyrian descent, a community that numbers about 1 million in Iraq. Along with Aiham Alsammarae, who runs an engineering firm in Chicago, Kamber has written a draft of what he hopes will become an Iraqi Bill of Rights. He drew inspiration from the U.S. Bill of Rights as well as U.N. documents.
Most Americans take these rights for granted, Kamber said. "But they don't have these rights in Iraq," he said. "I think it is very important to get them written down."
Tougher still would be the transition after Hussein's fall, especially any attempt to hold officials who served under Hussein accountable for war crimes and abuse of human rights.
Feisal Istrabadi, a 40-year-old attorney in the Chicago area, has taken the lead on writing a report on post-Hussein justice. He said he opposes a general amnesty, the death penalty, and an international tribunal like that trying former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Instead, Istrabadi is pushing for a court that is recognized as Iraqi but set up under the auspices of the United Nations, possibly with internationally appointed staff.
Many of those questions touch on the nature of the transitional government. Eshaiker said he envisioned a council of five to seven members drawn from the exiled opposition and sympathetic generals or ministers still inside.
Some projects are surprising. One is rejuvenation of the wetlands that straddle the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Iraq.
With U.S. funds, Psomas, a Los Angeles engineering firm, is designing a model to study how to reintroduce water and decide what areas can be best restored. Technicians are gathering satellite imagery. For the past 25 years, the Iraqi government has kept data on the area secret.
Inside Iraq, an opposition group managed to recruit an Iraqi to collect soil and water samples that were then smuggled to neighboring Jordan this summer, said Azzam al-Wash, a 44-year-old Iraqi-born engineer who is involved in the project.
The group hopes to have a preliminary plan by mid-January, and a working plan by March. The cost, he believes, may run to $10 million.
"I'd be surprised if it hits more than that," he said. "Nature is beautiful.
All we need is political will to allow nature to do its thing."
But some participants are skeptical about what comes next.
Istrabadi, the attorney, said he doubts the U.S. government is committed to a democratic Iraq -- suspicions confirmed, he said, in meetings with senior Pentagon officials. "That's a good day when I'm skeptical," he said. "There are some days when I'm cynical."
Others worry about the participants themselves. Mukhlis, the surgeon, acknowledged that some of the exiles may just want key jobs in a post-Hussein Iraq.
"There is really no trust left among people because of Saddam," said Mukhlis, whose father was killed by Hussein's forces after a coup plot was uncovered in 1993. "I keep reassuring people (that) to build up trust we need time -- and this is a good time to start."
-- andreas
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