Sunnis Balk at Shi’ite, Kurdish Constitution

The committee charged with drafting a new constitution for Iraq handed in its homework on Monday -- a week late. However, since the committee had been granted an extension, points won’t come off for tardiness. Instead, the reaction of Sunni leaders suggest the project will be marked as incomplete if not a failure.

The problems with the Iraqi constitution may or may not be legion; that is largely up to the Iraqis to decide. However, the current impasse and potential for disaster stems from Washington’s policies and not anything the Iraqis have done. The White House has insisted on getting a constitution to the parliament for ratification at any price. There has been a preference for getting it done now over getting it done right.

And when that happens, there is a very simple, majoritarian solution. The people with the numbers on their side just say, “let’s vote.” In the new Iraq, the Shi’ites with 60% of the population get a big say, and the 20% who are Kurds are tagging along because there are some common goals, not least of which is autonomy for a lesser Kurdistan. Of course, the fear for the Sunni is that federalism means that the oil under the feet of the Kurds and the Shi’ite won’t be shared with them. Naturally, their inclination is to remind the others that violence remains an option.

However, there doesn’t seem to be much appreciation of these concerns when it comes to the American policy makers who are pushing this thing along. The president himself interfered in Iraqi political negotiations (imagine the media and blogosphere response if an Iraqi stuck his nose into a US constitutional issue), saying, “This talk about Sunnis rising up, I mean the Sunnis have got to make a choice. Do they want to live in a society that's free, or do they want to live in violence?” If free means having 20% of the votes in a society where a different religious sect has 60%, then perhaps the Sunni can choose to be free. But from where they’re sitting, their choice is between subservience and violence. Mr. Bush should understand that in this case, violence is in support of what the Sunni perceive as freedom.

Then again, Mr. Bush claims the draft constitution guarantees, “”minority rights, women rights, [and] freedom to worship.” Except Chapter One, Article Two, which reads "The political system is republican, parliamentary, democratic and federal. 1. Islam is a main source for legislation. a. No law may contradict Islamic standards.” In other words, all Iraqis are equal, and the Shi’ites are more equal than others. After all, when interpreting the constitution, they have 6 out of 10 votes.



© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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