A Move Toward Democracy
The Wall Street Opinion Journal has a great editorial outlining the positive points of the Iraq’s new draft Constitution which should be approved sometime later today. In their article, Iraq’s Federalist Papers , they wrote the following:
“As for the unambiguously good news, there is both federalism and the oil-sharing formula. The draft constitution describes Iraq as “a democratic, federal, republican system”–an organizational structure that should be familiar to Americans. Some Sunni representatives have objected strongly, saying a federal structure risks the dissolution of the Iraqi state. But the reality is that federalism in one form or another was inevitable long before the constitutional talks began.
The Kurds, for starters, are not about to give up the autonomy they have enjoyed since the mid-’90s under cover of no fly zones (and would themselves dissolve the Iraqi state by secession were concessions on this matter not granted). Many Shiites also find federalism attractive after so many decades of suffering under Sunni-dominated governments in Baghdad. A federal structure will be particularly important for preserving freedom in Iraq, where not just Saddam Hussein but others before him exploited a strong central government fed by oil revenues to oppress others.
At the same time, Sunnis needn’t fear that Iraq’s mineral wealth will be hoarded in Kurdish and Shiite dominated provinces, where much of it lies. The revenue sharing proposal of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi–which we reported on last week, and which would distribute wealth equally among the provinces according to population–has been largely accepted.
Finally, the draft constitution enumerates extensive rights to free speech and political participation. Of course so do the constitutions, honored largely in the breach, of many dictatorships (Cuba, China). But that only highlights the fact that there is only so much a constitution can do, and that the fate of nations depends as much or more on the goodwill and willingness to compromise of their political class. The question isn’t really whether this constitution will guarantee a free Iraq. No document can. Rather, it is whether it will help enable one. And that answer seems unequivocally, yes.
“The constitution will be to serve everybody and not only one community of the Iraqi society,” said Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, whose rise is one of the many reasons we see hope for Iraq. Unlike his Kurdish rival Massoud Barzani, he has risen above sectarian politics and become a genuinely popular figure throughout the country.” (Read the whole article.)
The only people in the US who are adamantly pessimistic about this draft Constitution are those who are already predisposed to wanting the democracy in Iraq to fail. Their only reasoning is predominantly because they hate President Bush and our military. According to these pacifrauds, any success in Iraq which might reflect positively for our President or our military should be disseminated by the MSM as an abject failure.
There are no such disseminations in the above article. There is positive reinforcement concerning the new Constitution which make us proud of our President, our military, and most of all proud of the Iraqi people. The process we see unfolding in Iraq should remind us of what our forefathers lived through, and died for, so that we might enjoy the freedoms we do today. We are witnessing history in the making, let us stand up and cheer.
We wish the Iraqi people well in their new endeavor and hope for the ratification of this historic document in October.
