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Conflicts between religious and ethnic groups, and
the search for compromises, result in some vague
language and unresolved issues.
BAGHDAD - Built atop the still-smoldering
debris of Saddam Hussein's decades-long rule, Iraq's
draft constitution is a document born of past
grievances and future hopes. It has features that
will delight social democrats while angering
feminists, and encourage some of Iraq's minorities
while enraging others.
The United Nations and other organizations provided
Iraq's 71-member constitutional committee with
Arabic translations of constitutions from the West
as well as the East, from nations secular and pious,
and a wide array of ideas to shape the Iraqi
charter's 139 articles. But in the end, the document
reflects the conflicts among Iraq's religious and
ethnic groups, and its search for compromises often
leaves vague or unresolved issues that have sharply
divided negotiators.
The draft constitution's
provisions include:
* The Role of Islam
Article 2 establishes Islam as the official religion
of the state and a basic source of legislation,
guarantees the "Islamic identity" of the majority of
the Iraqi people and requires that no law contradict
the "undisputed" rules of Islam. At the same time,
it requires that laws do not contradict democratic
principles and basic freedoms. It also safeguards
religious freedom for Iraq's Christians and other
minority faiths. However, it does not explain how
those sometimes-contradictory goals will be
resolved. The language represents a compromise
between pious Shiite Muslims who had demanded that
Islam be the main source of legislation and Kurds
and urban liberals who had sought a secular system.
* Ties to Arab World
Article 3 defines Iraq as a "multiethnic,
multi-religious and multi-sect country" that is part
of the "Islamic world," while its Arabs "are part of
the Arab nation." That clause, designed in part to
placate ethnic Kurds, outraged Sunni Muslim Arabs
who had demanded that all of Iraq be considered an
Arab nation. Sunnis have appealed to the Arab League
for help.
* Minorities
Article 4 defines broad rights for Iraq's ethnic
minorities, especially Kurds. It makes Kurdish and
Arabic official languages, requiring both for
government documents, money, passports and postage
stamps. It also allows Iraq's Turkmens, Assyrians
and Armenians to have their children taught in their
languages in public schools.
* Baathists
Article 7 outlaws hate groups that advocate
terrorism or racism, "especially the Saddamist Baath
and its symbols, under any name." It commits Iraq to
fighting terrorism. Minority Sunni Arabs, who held
great influence under Hussein, had asked that
language specifying the Baath Party be eliminated
from the charter for fear that lower-level party
members who had committed no crimes would be
alienated from public life.
* Militias
Article 9 bans the formation of militias outside the
framework of the armed forces. Such militias, often
loyal to political parties, have run rampant in Iraq
since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, serving in some
areas as police forces virtually free of government
control. Many Iraqis will be glad to see them go.
Yet the Kurds' peshmerga warriors, who will continue
to exist in the Kurdish-ruled north, are widely
considered to be an ethnic militia loyal to Kurdish
parties, and many Iraqis wonder how they'll be
reined in.
* Religious Shrines
Article 10 commits the new Iraqi state to protecting
and maintaining the country's many important shrines
and religious sites. Hussein often violated the
sanctity of Shiite sites, which include the tombs of
imams Ali and Hussein, two relatives of the prophet
Muhammad revered worldwide. However, the
constitution omits language Shiites had wanted
granting special status for Iraq's highest-level
clergy.
* Dual Citizenship
Article 18 grants every Iraqi the right to dual
citizenship. Sunni Arabs and others opposed this
provision, but were overruled by Iraq's new
political class. Many Iraqi elites spent decades
abroad during Hussein's reign and want the option of
returning to the country that sheltered them if the
Iraqi experiment fails.
* Welfare State
Articles 28 to 34 define Iraq as a welfare state in
the tradition of Western Europe. The constitution
exempts the poor from taxes while guaranteeing
universal healthcare and free education at all
levels for all Iraqis, without defining how to fund
such ambitious plans. It guarantees the right of
Iraqis to a clean environment and commits the state
to preserving the "biological diversity" of
wildlife.
* Civil Liberties
Article 36 guarantees Iraqis the freedom of speech,
assembly and press with a limitation meant to
appease Iraq's traditionalists and religious
fundamentalists: "as long as it does not violate
public order and morality."
* Women
Article 39 gives Iraqis the choice to define their
"personal status" according to their own beliefs,
supplementing Iraq's civil laws governing marriage,
divorce and inheritance with the option to turn to
religious clerics in matters of family law. Iraq's
Islamists originally wanted to put all such laws
under the jurisprudence of clerics. But secular
Iraqis and many women demanded that Iraq's previous
laws be kept. They fear that under this provision
women in more restrictive environments still might
be forced by husbands and fathers to accept
religious rather than civil rulings.
* Religious Rituals
Article 41 gives Iraqis the freedom to perform
religious rituals and run their own religious
endowments, a victory for Shiites who were banned by
Hussein from taking part in centuries-old ceremonies
and forced to succumb to state administration of
their faith.
* The Parliament
Articles 47 to 63 spell out Iraq's two-house
legislative authority made up of the Council of
Representatives and Council of Union. The Council of
Representatives will have the most clout, with one
seat for every 100,000 Iraqis and the responsibility
to make laws, oversee the government, reject or
approve Cabinet appointments and impeach the
president.
* The Executive
Articles 64 to 84 define the powers of a relatively
weak president who must confer with a prime minister
or legislators on making big decisions and is
largely reduced to receiving ambassadors and leading
the armed forces at parades. Even the medals he
awards come on the recommendation of the prime
minister.
Sunni Arabs loathe this provision, but after the
Hussein era Shiites and Kurds had no intention of
vesting both power and prestige in one strong
leader.
Much of the power for implementing policy and
security will be in the hands of a prime minister
and the Cabinet.
* The Courts
Article 90 allows experts in Islamic as well as
civil law to serve on the supreme federal court.
Iraqi Shiites had originally wanted a separate court
to vet laws according to Islamic criteria, but
secular Iraqis and Sunnis were outraged, fearing an
Iranian-style Guardian Council, which approves all
laws in Tehran.
* Oil
Article 110 puts the federal government in charge of
administering current oil and gas fields while
leaving vague the language on how to distribute
money derived from future energy finds. Kurds and
Shiites originally wanted specific formulas for
distributing oil wealth. The law now only calls for
a formula that compensates areas deprived of
development under Hussein's government.
The former dictator lavished much of the country's
oil wealth on largely Sunni areas while leaving the
mainly Shiite south to languish.
* Federalism
Articles 113 to 118 define Iraq as a federal state
and spell out in detail the mechanism for provinces
to form into regions. A referendum can be held if a
third of an area's local legislators or a tenth of
its voters ask for one. A simple majority vote
creates a federal region.
This has been the provision that has most angered
Iraq's Sunni Arabs, who believe it's a recipe for
dismembering the country along ethnic and sectarian
lines. They also fear that federalism will reduce
their share of oil revenues and increase the
influence of Iran in the Shiite south.
* De-Baathification
Article 132 calls for a continuation of the
committee removing ex-members of the Baath Party
from government posts throughout the transitional
period leading to a new government. Sunnis have
decried the very mention of this in the
constitution, whereas Shiites have demanded the
ongoing purge, which continues in Iraqi ministries.
* Women in Government
Article 137 reserves 25% of the seats in the future
parliament for women, who scored a victory by
pushing out a previous clause that put an eight-year
time limit on the provision.
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