With all of the news coverage of violence in Iraq around the new constitution, I thought it might be interesting to actually read the constitution. Something which you never hear about in the news... Just what does this document say. Here is a link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/24_08_05_constit.pdf Cheers, ea
To get this going a bit, It seems on first glance to be pretty well Enlightened, inspired by the constitution of the US and other countries. The preamble is actually pretty cool with the glorious description of the Iraqi people, hearkening back to its Babylonian and Ottoman pasts. Though, there are a few points where things could get a little fishy...like Article 2 sub point a, where "no law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam"...now, the constitution does afford for judicial personnel skilled in both Sharia and normal law, but this does have quite the potential to be interpreted "creatively," granted though sub points b and c indicate that the freedoms that we know cannot be violated either, so maybe the Islam law thing was just a concession to the hardliners. I am also curious about article (45) which says that freedoms may be limited as long as they don't undermine the "essence" of those freedoms. What exactly is the essence? Is it the written freedom in law? Is it that if some people have the freedom, the essence survives? Take for example freedom of being a member of a political party, can all Iraqis be forced to be members of just one political party? That would certainly seem to solve for the problems of sectarianism that Iraq has...at least on paper. But, article 37 part 2 says that nobody can be forced to be a member of a political party...Perhaps again the rest of the constitution will serve to check the abusive application of any one bit. I'm kind of trying to look for a "necessary and proper" clause somewhere in the Constitution, and it does seem to have caveats all over the place about Public morality (article 36-freedom of expression assemble) and Islamic law (That one at the beginning and a bunch in the courts section). One other thing that stood out was in Article 102, where the "Institution of the Martyrs" would be formed. What is this? Is it some organization where compensation is paid to the families of Martyrs who died fighting terrorism? Perhaps another concession? This looks amusingly suspect. Most of the constitution though, seems rather familiar. I hope that they get themselves into a place where they can have their famous movie directors or maybe hardcore clerics working with Allah Ackbar Games to initiate some really serious virtual martyrdom action.
is this constitution basically the one that iraq had with saddams decrees removed? ie: it is not brand new, written from scratch
I was hoping for a restoration of the Iraqi Monarchy, but of course that''s me. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
@Gustav The consitution is new and based on US/UK democracy, of course. It's pretty noticeableif you look at it's "core". @Hapsburg Alas... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
