You know that you are living in strange times when a single news item on the Iraqi Constitution contains supporting comments from Bush (”completing the next step in their transition from dictatorship to democracy... this constitution is good for all Iraqis and that it adequately reflects compromises suitable to all groups”) and an open admission that the constituion erects an Islamic state that robs women of rights they had taken for granted under the regime that the US overthrew:
Under the new constitution, Islam would become the official religion of the Iraqi state, and be regarded as “a main source of legislation.” Clerics would more than likely sit on the Supreme Court, and judges would have broad latitude to strike down legislation that conflicted with the religion. Clerics would be given a broad, new role in adjudicating family disputes like marriage, divorce and inheritance. Under most interpretations of Islamic law, women enjoy substantially fewer rights than men.
Here is the text of the Iraqi Constitution, which claims that it was written with help from “heavenly messages.” Heaven, it seems, has led the drafters of the document to qualify every freedom and right with the proviso: “This shall be regulated by law.” As for economics: oil, education, and health are decisively nationalized.
