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=> life is a flawed document

Posted by parhad (Guest) - Tuesday, March 30 2004, 5:47:35 (EST)
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This is most interesting. As the article points out there are flaws in all constitutions...that isn`t the problem...what IS the problem is when you impose a consitution on a People who were doing just fine before and call this an improvement. It might be...but they aren`t going to appreciate it. Just imagine someone imposing a "better" Constitution on the US...there would be resentment no matter what.

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Fatal flaws in Iraqi constitution

Posted By: Ashor Giwargis (66.230.167.210)
Date: Tuesday, 30 March 2004, at 2:04 a.m.

AUANEWSWATCH

Middle East

Fatal flaws in Iraqi constitution
By Phyllis Bennis

(Posted with permission from Foreign Policy in Focus)

The signing of an interim constitution by the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) represents a significant step in United States efforts to legitimize its invasion and occupation of Iraq.

...you can`t legitimize something illegal and immoral too after the fact...it remains what it was at the time...no one is going to make attacking innocent countries for their resources a new way to behave "legitiamtely"...the Nazis tried it and it didn`t work..the whole world including the United States said those forced occupations were illegal abd tried the leaders as as War Criminals.

By achieving the codification in a US-supervised process of an ostensibly "Iraqi" legal document, the US as occupying power is hoping that its planned June 30 "transfer of power" will be accepted globally as the "restoration of sovereignty to Iraq". In fact, that "transfer of power" will not end the US occupation, will not lead to the withdrawal of US troops, and will not result in any real sovereignty for Iraq. The constitution itself implies recognition of its impotence, as it recognizes that all "laws, regulations, orders and directives" issued by the US occupation authorities will remain in force.

...well of course not. If I beat you up I can them impose a law on you, since I`m still sitting on your chest, that says you deserved it and further that it will be illegal in the future for you to act in ways that will make me feel you deserve another beating.

The new Iraqi constitution lacks legitimacy
It was drafted under US supervision by a body hand-chosen by the US military occupation authorities, and subject to final approval by the US proconsul, L Paul Bremer. Its acceptance by the Iraqi population remains uncertain; its ability to actually set the terms for laws to govern the country during the interim period after June 30 remains unknown; its relevance to any truly independent government created after the interim period remains in doubt. As a result, any examination of the constitution must include its legitimacy/illegitimacy, as well as the content of its provisions.

...The Nazis drafted all sorts of constitutions and Laws for the countries they occupied...nothing new in that. It is legitimate...it is "lgitimized"...big difference.

The constitution describes only a vague process to select the new transitional government to which the US will "transfer power" on June 30. It is to be chosen through "a process of extensive deliberations and consultations with cross-sections of the Iraqi people conducted by the Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority and possibly in consultation with the United Nations". No method of conducting such "extensive deliberations" is included, and given the IGC's failure so far to have engaged in serious, wide-ranging consultations with Iraqi society regarding their own governance, it is unlikely to change any time soon. Crucially, the mandated "consultations" are to be conducted equally between the existing US-appointed IGC and the US occupation authority itself - thus insuring that the IGC will remain either fully in place or with a self-selected successor body to replace it. The role of the UN is dismissed as "perhaps" being included in consultations.

...if the US didn`t bother with what was good for Iraqis, as they saw it, before attacking them based on lies the US knew were lies cause they made them to "legitimize" their attack...why in the hell would they care to ask Iraqis WHAT they think now? Would they really want to hear?

The IGC holds on to power
Since the constitution says nothing about how the interim government will actually be selected, the unspoken understanding is that the IGC - perhaps enlarged by additional US-selected individuals, perhaps in its current form - will remain the center of Iraqi authority. Many current members of the council have made clear their desire to hold on to power, knowing that (since most of them spent the past decade or two or three outside of Iraq) they would be unlikely to win any kind of election.

...xactly...what is being created is a guarantee of destabilization for the indefinite future with "outside forces" meaning anyone who doesn`t like their homes invaded, their families killed and then have it all "legitimized" on top of that...always handy for any pretext and to insure the society will always be at the point of violence..."proving" that those Muslims are "just that way"...forgetting all the violence that`s been DONE to them by Christians who are REALLY that way and eat human meat and drink human blood to show their perfectlove....when Muslims abhor the very idea...symbollic or not.

As a result, the UN and others have suggested that the interim government operate with a very narrow mandate - essentially "keeping the lights on and paying the bills of the street-sweepers". Specifically, the suggestion was to bar the interim government from making decisions regarding major economic or foreign policy issues. However, the constitution as drafted provides no limits on what issues the interim government, in whatever form it takes, may decide - including continuing the US-initiated privatization policies, negotiating major replacement oil contracts, and most significantly, signing a Status of Forces Agreement with the US to provide an Iraqi "invitation" to the 100,000+ US troops who will remain in Iraq.

...ah those invitations they`ve always used as an excuse...they were "invited" into Korea and Vietnam too...by the puppets they set up.

Federal ambitions
The constitution calls for a federal system of government, in which, despite language to the contrary, the sectors are almost certain to be determined by Iraqis' ethnic and religious identity. The division of Iraqis into Shi'ite, Sunni, Kurdish, Turkoman, Assyrian and Christian identities is the basis for the US-created Iraqi IGC, and is the likely basis of the division of power within a "federal" Iraqi system. This causes three major problems: 1) There is no representation for Iraqis who identify first as Iraqi citizens, and only secondarily as Shi'ite, Kurds, or whatever. 2) The ethnic/religious quotas assume that all Kurds, Shi'ites, Sunni, Assyrians, or others represent monolithic political blocs. 3) A system based on ethnic or religious sectoral interests is inherently unstable, in most cases giving minority and majority populations too little or too much power, and undermining national identity as Iraqis. Lebanon's years of confessional (religiously determined) division and war demonstrates the potential dangers.

...This is imposed Balkanization. Iraq was trying to forge a national consciousness...which is what scared White flok all aong,.the fear that Muslim countries will consolodate behind civil laws and develop national identities...and than after that, form their own federated system..as the economic bloc they formed with OPEC...which brought American industry to it`s knees when the price of gas was controlled by the producers. Keeping the fractuous and battling over religious niceties has been all of America`s foreign "policy" for that region..it was the Shah, Saddam, Nasser, Sadat and others like them who kept a tight grip on the religious factions, including our own idiotic boys...who understood that they must form a union eventually, like the Europeans realized..or else the tyranny of the United States would swollow them all and then "legitimize" the feast.

The constitution, for example, would give Kurds, who represent about 20 percent of the population, a veto over acceptance of the future permanent constitution. This would take place in the context of Kurdish opposition to any future constitution, since Kurds constitute the majority in three provinces, and the interim constitution insures that a law, or permanent constitution, would fail if it is opposed by a majority of people in at least three provinces.

...the Christians are gonna find themselves in worse shape..which is all their National Nonsense has EVER done for them...sounds great at the moment..gives a lot of satisfaction to the mouth without disturbing the brain....and then BAM! Shit...what happened??? Maybe we should demnds some more..what do you think guys?

Along with the problem of forcing a religious or ethnic identity for people wanting to assert and build a national Iraqi identity instead, it is not at all clear that most Iraqis support the kind of federal system imposed in the constitution. There is little indication that any serious effort was made to consult with large sectors of the Iraqi people before determining such a drastic framework.

...there`s a monumental understatement. But then no one consulted the American people before the drastic war brought on in their name..they were instead lied to and manipulated...same as in Iraq.

The constitution creates a federal system, but leaves vague what powers remain with the national government and what devolves to the regions. The central government is given responsibility for foreign policy, national security, fiscal and monetary policy, and control of oil and other natural resources. But there is no limit identified as to what powers a "federal region" may assert. The ##### Regional Government, the only federal region identified, is to have broad, yet vaguely defined powers of self-government: legislative and judicial independence, and the Kurdish Peshmerga militia to remain in force. The Kurdish government will also "retain regional control over police forces and internal security", implying that the Peshmerga could remain a permanent force independent of the central Iraqi government.

The Kurds are being set up as the spoilers..between them and the those who don`t want ANY of this...there will be constant unrest and the need to get money any way they can...to buy American tractors and other peace keeping implements and that means shutting the fuck up and working those oil rigs for all they`re worth and they`re worth a LOT. they were worth killing 500,000 children for..that crime alone will reverberate down the decades and make of this whole thing a shambles...you can`t "legitimize" infanticide on that scale and escape....look at Herod.

Rights and wrongs
The constitution asserts a set of individual political rights, as well as economic and social rights significantly advanced, though not absolutely unprecedented, in the Arab world. Those rights include freedom of speech and association, assembly, religion, travel, the right to demonstrate and strike, access to the courts, open trials and the presumption of innocence. There are prohibitions against unlawful arrest, slavery, torture, and trying civilians before a military court. However, the prohibition on establishing "special or exceptional courts" is already undermined by the special court established to try Saddam Hussein and other accused war criminals.

...ahem. America has these same secret trials now...

In terms of economic and social rights, the constitution includes "the right to security, education, health care and social security", and states that the government agencies "within the limits of their resources" shall strive to "provide prosperity and employment opportunities to the region".

The text calls for a "goal of having women constitute no less than one-quarter of the members of the National Assembly" that will be selected [by as-yet-undetermined means] to draft the final constitution, and states that "all Iraqis are equal in their rights without regard to gender, sect, opinion, belief, nationality, religion, or origin, and they are equal before the law".

...The women`s issue is just being manipulated that`s all...under Saddam Iraqi women were as free as they were anywhere else..and liberated Muslim women..adding their voices and talents to the men is NOT what the US wanted either...the extremists have been strengthened...and they will fight women for years and years to come.

While the US has launched a major propaganda campaign regarding the "unprecedented in the Arab world" nature of these guarantees, in fact a number of Arab states actually have similar constitutional rights. The problem comes - as is the case in the US, Europe and elsewhere - not so much in the written law as in its implementation. In this regard, Iraq is unlikely to be very different.

...ah...there`s the rub. Except it IS different too...No one imposed the constitutions of European countries on them...people all fuck up and know it and accept it...but when the fuck up is imposed on them and then "legitimized" they tend to resist it...even if it`s deemed good for them, by the ones doing the imposing...and even if it IS..they still resent it..and in this regard, people is people.

The relationship between religious law and individual liberty remains unclear.

...that same problem is being imposed on Americans as well.

Islam is to be relied on as "a source" for Iraqi laws, and the constitution states that no law may contradict either Islamic law or the guarantees of individual rights. This was a compromise between those urging that Islam be regarded as "the source", implying that Islamic Sharia law should be the sole basis for new laws, and those, especially women, concerned that Islamic law would undermine the constitution's individual rights. Islam was also identified as the state religion of Iraq (similar to most Arab constitutions), though religious freedom is included in the individual rights. US officials, including Bremer, had already announced they would veto any constitution that in their view would make Iraq an "Islamic state".

...taht`s odd...they themselves fund and create extremists and then say they don`t want an Islamic State. There is nothing wrong with an Islamic State that is sincerely trying to put extremism behind it..as Iran and Iraq were sucessfully doing...the US is a Christian State...says so everywhere you turn..and the same boys who are making America over into an extremist Christian State don`t want an extremist Muslim State? Why? Are they planning a war eventually between a VERY extremist Christian State and a pacified though still seething Muslim State...in which Muslim religious extremists on the inside can play havoc with national cohesion???

The new document does not address crucial questions even for the interim period itself. It does not identify the means of choosing the new interim government beyond "deliberations and consultations". It leaves undefined the future legality and power of sectarian militias existing in a legal vacuum. The language states that militias and armed factions outside of the to-be-created transitional government "are prohibited, except as provided by federal law", implying that a law drafted in the future granting the Kurdish Peshmerga forces or a Shi'ite militia or anything else would be deemed within the constitutional framework.

...tha`s right...tha`s the plan. You all don`t think this war "just happened" now do you? You think is wasn`t manipulated and lied about and set up and meetings held and the rest of it? When people conspire to undo you, the first thing they`ll tell you is that you`re a conspiracy nut. Let them throw their documents open for all to read and we`ll quickly determine what was DONE and what just HAPPENED..all on its own.

Phyllis Bennis is a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and is a contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus.

...she`s a fella?

(Posted with permission from Foreign Policy in Focus

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