Iraq Constitution Progress at politburo diktat 2.0

Iraq Constitution Progress

Constitution should be ready by August 1.

Iraq said Wednesday its constitution would be ready within two weeks despite sustained rebel attacks that saw the killing of two Sunni members of the charter’s drafting committee. Constitution committee chairman Hamoun Hammadi said the document would be ready to go to parliament by Aug 1, ahead of the August 15 deadline, before going to a referendum on Oct 15.

“There has been an agreement about all the basic issues, including the basic principles, rights, duties and freedoms,” he told reporters. “The only point left is that of federalism which aroused some concerns and fears.”

The national assembly will then debate the draft and submit amendments in time for a final vote on Aug 15, marking a milestone in Iraq’s political transition following the March 2003 US-led invasion and the toppling of Saddam.

A draft of the Bill of Rights is available. John Cole comments:

The constitution doesn’t even exist and Israelis are already an enemy of the state. Fabulous. I guess the ‘talons of fear and ignorance’ proved to be irresistable, after all. The document is also completely loaded with social welfare assurances, including a right to health care, a right to work and the state’s obligation to provide jobs, the statement that all natural resources are owned by the state, etc.

The document needs some work, to put it mildly. Article 20 also stands out as unrealistic: “Citizens may not own, bear, buy, or sell weapons, except by a permit issued in accordance with law.” Good luck with that one, guys. My gun carrying days are over since I left the military, but if there was ANYWHERE in the world I would refuse to live without a gun, it is Iraq for the foreseeable future.

Translator Nathan Browns’ observations on the draft:

• Numerous Iraqis connected with the drafting process have suggested that the constitution will replicate the basic structures created by the Transitional Administrative Law (or TAL, the interim constitution written before the dissolution of the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority last year). There are some indications (in the provisions on federalism and the parliament) that this will indeed be the case. Yet the draft bill of rights is clearly not based on the TAL (while it does borrow some elements).
• The document makes very extensive welfare commitments. This is not unusual in more recent constitutions, but it is a marked departure from the TAL. In addition, the commitments are sometimes specific in a way that would seem to move them beyond mere statements of aspirations to enforceable mandates.
• While the rights provisions are extensive, there are actually significant qualifications. Sometimes these relate to religion, morals, and values. This gives the document a very conservative flavor.
• More often qualifications on rights occur in implementing legislation. European constitutions introduced phrasing that suggested that freedoms be defined by law. The original purpose of such provisions was to ensure that only parliament (as the agent of the entire society) would define the way in which a right would operate.
This took the task out of the hands of the monarch and the executive and placed it in the hands of those deputized by the nation. But over time it has become clear that defining a right might also mean limiting it. This could occur anywhere but seems especially likely in countries in which the parliament falls under executive domination. In such cases, rights might almost be defined out of existence. Indeed, this is the pattern in much of the Arab world. The drafting committee in Iraq has indicated that it is writing a more parliamentary document, which might diminish but certainly cannot eliminate the possibility of rights being deprived out of their meaning by implementing legislation. Some countries have attempted to forestall such a possibility by including a constitutional provision that implementing legislation cannot limit the essence of a right. No such provision is included in this draft.
• In general, the draft makes real and quite significant concessions to demands for women’s rights and representation. The language is sometimes paternalistic and qualified, however.

Sunni Members Suspend Participation in Iraqi Constitution Panel

Sunni Arab leaders said today that they were withdrawing temporarily from the writing of the new constitution after the assassination of two colleagues, a move that threatens to delay the drafting and undermine the legitimacy of the American-backed political process.

Several of the Sunni Arabs withdrawing from the committee said they would not take part again until the Iraqi government, dominated by Shiite Arabs and Kurds, provides adequate security for them. They accused the government of not giving enough protection to their colleagues, Mejbil Issa and Dhamin Hussein al-Obeidi, who were gunned down Tuesday afternoon by unknown assailants while driving through downtown Baghdad. Using rhetoric that is certain to fuel sectarian tensions, some of the Sunni leaders have even implied in interviews that Shiites or Kurds may have killed the two politicians because of the men’s opposition stands on critical constitutional issues.