Walter Pincus writes in today’s Washington Post that U.S. and Iraqi negotiators having problems determining the proper role of Islam in Iraq’s "fundamental Law." The "fundamental law" is the precursor to an Iraqi constitution.
The February 28 deadline for finishing the fundamental law is threatened by unresolved issues such as the separation of mosque and state.
According to the Pincus article, the fundamental law is supposed to establish the equivalent of a bill of rights for Iraqi citizens, set up a federal-type government with powers divided between the central and local entities, and create an independent judiciary with the power to review actions by the legislative and executive branches.
Religion is the key problem. Iraq's 1925 constitution and the one in effect during Saddam Hussein's reign made Islam the state religion.
After reading Afghanistan's draft constitution, Iraqi Islamists "have become more militant." The draft Afghan constitution, which I criticized here and here, not only makes Islam the state religion but also says no law may be incompatible with Islam.
Noah Feldman, an assistant professor of law at New York University who specializes in Arab law and is consulting with Bremer on legal issues in Iraq unfortunately thinks "we are going to have to put that [Islam as a state religion] in."
Soner Cagaptay, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who specializes in Kurdish and Turkish affairs, said that including Islam in the fundamental law "was not good news."
I couldn’t agree more. Iraq must remain at least as secular as it was under Saddam. The only way to ensure that is to have the fundamental law embrace a separation of mosque and state. Anything less will be an impediment to the strategy of spreading democracy to the Middle East.
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