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August 17, 2005
A Constitutional Delay
The drafters of the Iraqi constitution say it may take another week to finish drafting the country's constitution. At issue is the willingness of the minority Sunni population to agree with certain provisions in the new document. The AP story linked above makes it sound as though this delay makes the entire U.S. war with Iraq a failure. The story contains the following paragraph:
The Bush administration has invested an enormous treasure of capital and young American lives to push Iraq from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein to a hoped-for democratic future.Interesting aside. And the AP wonders why editors are starting to complain about their coverage of the war.
Although I understand the importance from a public relations perspective of having the Sunnis onboard with the new Constitution, I don't think unanimity is essential in the formation of a country's founding document. We certainly did not have complete agreement on our own constitution.
The state of Rhode Island didn't send delegates to the Constitutional convention and the state of North Carolina rejected ratification of the document at first. They eventually passed it, after it had already been ratified. The Sunnis, likely out of resentment at their lost ruling status, has dragged its feet during this entire process and obviously they haven't learned from their mistake of boycotting the election - this is a new country, with new rules.
If the Sunnis still have not joined the process after this week's delay, the Iraqi interim government should pass the constitution with the majority they have and let the Sunnis know once and for all that the democratic process will proceed with or without them.
Posted by slublog at August 17, 2005 12:00 AM
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