Some details of Iraq's new interim constitution have been released, and there are a couple troubling details.
The document "strikes a balance between the role of Islam and the bill of individual rights and democratic principles," the official said.It's nto clear what the "role of Islam" will be, but whatever it is I'm sure it'll be more that would be ideal.
The details of how the northern Kurds would be integrated into the system haven't been addressed yet, apparently, but:
Kurdish leaders had demanded the right to keep their peshmerga militia as a distinct armed force and to control oil and other resources in their region. They also sought to add districts to the autonomous area. ...Nothing will guarantee failure better than the existence of multiple, autonomous military forces.Shiites, who dominate southern Iraq, insisted that if the Kurds had the right to self-rule in their northern strongholds, Shiites should enjoy the same privilege in areas of the south where they predominate.
On the role of Islam... I read somewhere that a cleric in Iraq issued a fatwah denouncing attacks on the government, as that would be an affront to Islam.
IOW, having Islam by name in the Constitition provides a bit of a hedge against Islamist types revolting against the government.
Not that I don't think it is troubling, but it might be something that without it, there would be no constitution.
Our constitution provides for separate autonomous military forces (militia, under the governance of the state) Perhaps Iraq could become a federalist republice where there are three semi-autonomous regions that provide for basic rights across a federal jurisdiction.
'Course the 'separate autonomous military forces' didn't work out so well in Lincoln's era...
Gator: Our Constitution requires states to maintain and organize the NG, but it falls under federal authority. Maybe it's the same under the new Iraqi Constitution.