The Triumph Of The Iraqi Constitution
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I, of course, appreciate the positive tone of this piece from The American Thinker...
[[ Surprise! The Washington Post is "disappointed" by the Constitution just drafted by the elected Iraqi Constitutional Assembly. The Arab League is tisk-tisking, but all its members are despotic criminocracies, so that doesn't mean a lot. And our friends the Europeans are skeptical, fresh from their own triumphant experiment in constitutional lawmaking.
In fact, the Iraqi Constitution is a much more serious and democratic document than the EU Constitution, which was turned down with a massive sneer by the French voters just a few months ago. For one thing, it is clear and understandable to anybody with a high school education. It is about 25 pages long. The European Constitution was 400 pages, and its main author warned that it should not be send to the voters because they could not possibly understand it.
Fortunately, you don't have to listen to the obsessive naysayers carping about Iraq's steady progress to democracy. Just read the draft Constitution yourself. To me, it is just thrilling.
Listen to these words:
"We, the children of Mesopotamia, land of the prophets, resting place of the holy imams, the founders of civilization and the creators of the alphabet, the cradle of arithmetic: On our land, the first law put in place by mankind was written; in our nation, the most noble era of justice in the politics of nations was laid down; on our soil, the followers of the prophet and the saints prayed; the philosophers and the scientists thought and the writers and prophets created."
No, theirs is not the US Constitution - but the spirit of Jefferson, Madison, and Washington is alive throughout this remarkable document. The Iraqi draft Constitution does attempt to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility and so on, just like the US Constitution did two hundred years ago. It does so in an Iraqi context, with due regard to Islam and the agonizing history of that country, but its ideas are steeped in the Enlightenment, the very same intellectual atmosphere in which the US Founders flourished. The opening words "We, the children of Mesopotamia..." calls to mind "We, the people of the United States..." ]] (LINK to positive story)
Please read the whole thing... it is very thoughtful and very helpful to the balance of mental input.
Tsar, et al... my outdoor luncheon awaits your precipitation. Perhaps you can help me finish filling my glass...
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posted by kmg at 15:47
7 Comments:
Feeling a bit philosophical tonight, SAJ?
If the glass has anything at all in it then its better than what we had before in the middle east!
It depends on whether the glass if for water; unfortuntely, in most Islamic nations, the glass cannot be used for a pint of Guinness...
Pomoze Bog.
Tsar Lazar
KMG:
This article is a good article, and I agree---I sincerely hope it DOES work, for the sake of the average Abdul in the Street and his kids.
Also, if it works, the Iraqi Experiment may prove to be an effective blueprint for spreading decent, tolerant governments throughout the ME. Again, I sincerely hope this is the case, because it just may mark a long-term truce between Christianity and Islam that may harden into a lasting peace.
As the article points out, it is the best hope the Iraqis have for coming out of the 12th century and into the 21st.
On the obverse side of the coin, however, it must be remebered that if all of this collapses like Dan Rather's credibility it will only support the thesis that Islam and true, inalienable-right-respecting democracy are, at base, incompatible.
So, my take on the whole thing is this: let us pray to God to have mercy on the Iraqi people and that the Great Experiment succeeds.
Pomoze Bog.
Tsar Lazar
I agree, Tsar...
I would say, though, that if it does all go dan rather on us... then we can say that we have tried... and then the reality of the islamist enemy will be stark and very visible- perhaps leading to a greater mobilization against the threat.
How's that for finding silver linings?
An Open Letter of Thanks to KMG and the Other Half-Fullistas Out There:
This recent posting and the thought processes it engendered in me have made me look in the mirror for quite some time.
Given the persecution that my people have suffered under Islam for so many centuries, it is difficult for me to view the goings-on in the Islamic world objectively, and even more so to see them positively. That, at times, colors my view of issues such as the Iraqi Experiment.
What the debates here on the blog over the last week or so have reminded me is that I gaze upon this issue through a glass that is far darker than it should be; to "paint it black" is the great error of the Left in this country, who approach the whole issue with a desire for its failure. This is something that I need to remember and take to heart.
So, thanks for the insight, folks.
Pomoze Bog.
A Cautiously Optomistic Tsar Lazar
Don't feel bad, Tsar. In taking the other side, you make us aware of things we may not have considered in our optimism. As long as we remain as willing to reconsider our positions in light of new evidence as you evidently are of yours, we can only be better for it. Thank you.
Steve
(hoping and believing it's half full)
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