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WHAT ABOUT IRAQ'S CONSTITUTION?
Candidates and Journalists keep talking (ad nauseum) about the “surge”and “pull out”. What about the political mess we were party to creating? Is that subject too unsanitary for discussion?
Maybe it's that as Americans we're so intimately involved with our “Constitutional rights” that it does not occur to us that other cultures have never had these “rights”. It may also be that Americans who, in the words of Gore Vidal, although we are in possession of an exciting, colorful and fascinating history, it has been made extremely boring by our educational system.
Whatever the cause, our apparent lack of enthusiasm to promote the benefits of the United States Constitution for others to enjoy is quite astounding. It seems as though our own people are unaware of how unique and creative that document is. As a nation we have (apparently) done very little to promote our Constitution abroad. This observation pertains to the defeated nations of WWII, Germany, Italy,Austria and Japan as well as the African nations which gained independence from their colonial rulers in the aftermath of that war. All were guided in their emergence from fascism or colonial rule to form their own “democratic” governments. All chose a Parliamentary structure without exception, with our State Department people, presumably, toasting their great --- democratic --- achievement. If a parliamentary form of government is so wonderful, what has gone wrong in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kenya (to name some recent examples of turmoil)? Or possibly more to the point, what makes parliamentary government work well in some countries and apparently not in others?
One difference between the US Constitution and Parliamentary systems is that we choose our representatives by name as individuals. In parliamentary systems voters choose only what political party they support. This may sound like a small detail that is not worth quibbling over. Maybe so, but the difference if analyzed carefully has some wide implications which are deserving of a more studied review.
Since the Parliamentary governments are chosen on the basis of political parties, those nations which have fierce ethnic divides find themselves torn by the manipulation and exacerbation of those ethnic tensions in order to gain political advantage. This is evident in Iraq where political parties are formed strictly along ethnic lines; Sunni, Shea and Kurd. In Afghanistan it's along ethnic lines as well but on more of a tribal nature. The Kenyan's political parties have re-ignited the old tribal conflicts to the detriment of the nation and a regrettable loss of life.
It is high time that the United States undertakes an initiative within Iraq to convince the Iraqi people that a new Constitutional Convention is in order. The purpose being to correct the failings of the existing document for which the inhabitants voted with fervent hope and at the risk of their lives.
There should be no shame attached to the constitutional revision. After all, the US Constitution wasn't adopted until 1787, several years after the Revolutionary War.
We owe it to the Iraqis and to our fallen heroes and those who carry the scars of battle to make sure that the revised Constitution embodies the rights which we as Americans enjoy. It must also have the structure which enables ethnic minorities to flourish as has been demonstrated by the numerous waves of immigrants which found the path to a better life under the United States Constitution.
This process is vital, not only for the Iraqis, but for the national interests of the United States. It is late in the day for the present Administration to undertake this initiative, but it is not an action which can afford to be delayed. Now is the time to act. Content in the knowledge that with undiluted vigor, lightning swiftness and supreme confidence that a new Iraqi Constitution, which mirrors our own, will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. A stunning victory not only for a deserving and long suffering Iraqi people, but a beacon for illuminating the fabled Fertile Crescent of the Middle East.
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