March 06, 2004

Iraqi cleric delays constitution signing

Plans to sign an Iraqi interim constitution collapsed yesterday, with leaders of the majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding changes that would give them dominant control of Iraq's presidency when the Americans hand over power June 30.
[...]
 Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said that the coalition was firm in its commitment to hand power over to an Iraqi government on June 30 and he sought to portray the delay as a positive step.
    
"If you want neat and tidy, there's dictatorship. Democracy is messy," Mr. Senor said.
   
 "It's messy whether it's in Baghdad, Washington or London. It's important for Iraqis to understand that they can raise these issues, have discussions like this. ... It's OK. Nobody's going to wind up in a torture chamber or rape room or mass grave after the fact."
   
 White House spokesman Scott McClellan, briefing reporters in Washington, called the signing postponement "democracy in action."
    
"The important thing is that Iraqi leaders are able to freely discuss these issues with one another and do so publicly," he said.

Let's hope it really is "democracy in action" and not the domination of Shi'ite fundamentalist theocracy in formation.
I don't like this "delay" coming so soon after the Ashoura bombings in Baghdad and Karbala which I'm fully ready to believe were sponsored by and probably literally carried out by Shi'ite "insurgents" from Iran (although there may have been some Iraqi Shi'ites helping, if not Baathist Sunnis, too).
I believe that the bombings were carried out to send a message to Al-Sistani to "play ball" with Tehran or else.
Don't forget that they occurred the day the constitution was originally due to be signed!
I think Al-Sistani's marching orders from the mullahs are to set up an Islamic Shi'ite republic in Iraq.
We all must fight this with everything we've got!
We didn't liberate Iraq from Baathist Sunni oppression to have it remake itself into Shi'ite oppression!
The Iraqis need and must have a secular democratic government: to that end, the CPA needs to treat Shi'ites and Sunni's as political parties (rather than or in addition to religious parties) and they need to get something going for Iraq not unlike our electoral college and Senate system, whereby less populous and represented regions (like those in the Kurdish areas and Baathist Sunnis in the middle of the country) have equal representation and voice.
Democracy is messy and I don't envy Paul Bremer or our Coalition troops who keep the peace there while these fanatical Shi'ites (Are there any other kind?) go absolutely wild when they're told "No."
But this Al-Sistani man needs to be put in his place and learn that he is only one leading cleric of the Iraqi Shi'ites--not even all of Iraq's Shi'ites follow him--and that democracy is not about mob rule.
Iraq must not and can not be allowed to become another Iran, which is where I think this is heading!