The New York Sun
August 4, 2003
CONSTITUTION IS NEXT FIGHT FOR FREE IRAQ
‘WILL HAVE PEOPLE…KILLED FOR DISSENTING FROM ISLAM’
WASHINGTON — The next hurdle for the American occupation in Iraq is
drafting a new constitution for the country, and some are warning that if the
Bush administration isn’t careful, the constitution will create a state in which
those who dissent from Islam are punished or
killed.
So
far, the American-led occupation authority has indicated that it will leave most
of the constitution-drafting to Iraqis themselves. But some American
religious-freedom advocates, Iraqis close to the process, and administration
officials are now raising the alarm that a constitution drafted without clear
American guidance could produce an end result that doesn’t reflect President
Bush’s goal of a free and democratic country. Mr. Bush has argued that postwar
Iraq will serve as a “hopeful example” for other nations in the Middle
East.
“The constitution will be written by Iraqis and for Iraqis. It will
not be written by the Coalition. Once the constitution is written, you, the
Iraqi people, will have an opportunity to approve it. Then you will elect a
sovereign Iraqi government. And the Coalition’s job will be done,” the
American-appointed civil administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, said in a July
12 televised address to Iraqis.
At
a June 12 press conference, Mr. Bremer was asked about what role Islam might
play in Iraq’s new government. He replied, “Questions like the role of Islam are
so fundamental to the kind of society that the Iraqis will rebuild that I
believe this is a question that needs to be left to the constitutional
conference…we have made it clear that the constitution that Iraq needs to write
must be written by Iraqis; it must take into account Iraqi history, its culture,
its social experiences. It will not be a constitution dictated by the
coalition or by
Americans.”
The
vice chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Nina
Shea, said she is worried that America is risking allowing an Iraqi constitution
that isn’t quite what Mr. Bush envisioned. She raised the possibility that Iraq
would adopt the system of Islamic law, sharia, followed in Saudi Arabia and in
Afghanistan under the Taliban.
“I’m very concerned,” said Ms. Shea, who has met with Mr. Bremer
about these issues.
The
key to ensuring that Iraq’s new constitution is committed to individual rights
and religious freedoms, she said, is gentle pressure from
America.
“We
need to communicate through a variety of channels…not in a dictate — in a quiet
and diplomatic way — that we expect to see individual freedom in the
constitution,” she said.“Otherwise, it will be a race to the bottom with the
Shiite hardliners…you will have people punished
and killed for dissenting from Islam.”
A
Pentagon official who requested anonymity said, “If the U.S. takes a hands-off
approach, we would have to recognize what we can get might not be exactly what
we wanted.”
Mr.
Bremer has said that it is possible to have Iraq’s first free elections a year
from now if a constitution can be completed by
then.
Current plans are for Iraq’s newly appointed 25-member Governing
Council to name a “preparatory committee” that would start the process of
creating a constitution, culminating in a national conference of Iraqis where
the document would be finalized, followed by a vote on the finished
product in a national
referendum.
A
professor of law at New York University who served as senior adviser for
constitutional law to the occupation authority in Iraq until mid-July, Noah
Feldman, said it is doubtful that Sharia law would be adopted in
Iraq.
“I
think it’s very unlikely, verging on the impossible,” he said, adding, “That’s
not to say there won’t be a real public discussion and debate over what role
Islamic values will play in the constitution.”
Mr.
Bremer said on June 12 that Iraq has lived under two different constitutions
since 1925, “both of which established Islam as the state religion” that
guaranteed “freedom of worship.”
But
Ms. Shea said Iraq’s 1925 constitution “says no such
thing.”
The
1925 constitution states that “Islam is the official religion of the state” and
that “Freedom to practice the rites of the different sects of that religion, as
observed in Iraq, is
guaranteed.”
It
goes on to say that “Complete freedom of conscience and freedom to practice the
various forms of worship, in conformity with accepted customs,is guaranteed to
all inhabitants of the country provided that such forms of worship do not
conflict with the maintenance of order and discipline or public
morality.”
“I’ve been down this road. I’ve been intensely involved in the Afghan
constitution — it’s the same thing; it’s a mess,” Ms. Shea said. She said a
constitutional right to dissent was essential to a moderate, tolerant,
pluralistic Islam. “These constitutions don’t have that. The 1925 model is
absolutely disastrous,” she said.
A
more active American role in the process might set off controversy.
Grand Ayatollah Ali
Sistani, the highest-ranking Shiite Muslim cleric in Iraq, recently issued a
fatwa, or religious edict, saying that the new constitution must be written by
Iraqis elected by the people.
Mr.
Feldman said it is crucial Iraqis pick the constitution-making body because
Iraqis must accept the finished product as
legitimate.
“The Iraqis have a much better knowledge of their politics. I don’t
honestly think we would be in a position to gerrymander the outcome by choosing
particular individuals and I don’t think we would want to,” Mr. Feldman said.
“The success of the
constitution is absolutely crucial for the success of Iraq. I strongly object to
those who measure the success of the constitution by the words in it. If the
Iraqis don’t like the constitution, it has no chance of catching
on.”
Before the war in Iraq began, free Iraqis had done some preliminary
work on the constitution under the auspices of the State Department’s “Future of
Iraq Project.”
The
so-called “Democratic Principles Working Group” wrote a 79-page report outlining
their vision for the transition to democracy. An Iraqi intellectual who teaches
at Brandeis University, Kanan Makiya, heavily influenced the
report.
Mr.
Makiya has been outspoken on the need to establish a constitution based on the
concept of regional rather than ethnically based federalism, and for the need
for separation of church and state.
“I
see Kanan’s views as deeply desirable but not viable given the situation on the
ground in Iraq. In Iraq most people don’t want separation of church and state,”
Mr. Feldman said.
Iraq’s Governing Council is expected to announce the members of a
preparatory committee soon. But behind-the-scenes maneuvering is already well
under way, sources say.
Sources said that a deal was struck at June 5 meeting in the Iraqi
holy city of Najaf between the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud
Barzani, and Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim of the Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq to form a tactical alliance whereby the Supreme
Council, known as SCIRI, would support the
Kurds’ desire for ethnically based federalism in exchange for support for some
kind of ruling Sharia law in the Iraq’s south.
Mr.
Bremer’s July 12 speech seemed to suggest he didn’t think there would be
difficulties with religious freedom in post-Saddam Iraq: “Since 1970, when
Saddam promulgated his constitution, freedom of worship has been honored more in
a breach. But it’s possible that they will decide that they want to have a
constitution which establishes Islam. We would, of course, be much more
comfortable if it also established freedom of religion, and I don’t think that
will be a problem.”
