The Iraqi Constitution: An insult to their memory

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Looks like the Iraqi Constitution will enshrine Islamic law as absolute. That's not good.

But...Islam will be "a main source" of legislation rather than "the main source" of legislation. That's good.

But...another clause says that no laws are allowed that will go against Islam. But who gets to decide that? Why, it's the mullahs who will sit on the equivalent of their Supreme Court. That's not good.

But...there is also a clause that states no law may contradict democratic values. That's good.

Sound confusing?

Christopher Allbritton of Time Magazine promptly rolls over and begins reciting what (I think) is going to be the conventional wisdom on the Right:

Of course, such contradictions aren't unique to Iraq; in the years following the ratification of the U.S. constitution there were whole classes of Americans (women, slaves) who were not given equal treatment, and the Iraqis may in time find a balance between Islamic law and democracy.

I can't decide whether this is idiotic or insulting.

Fact: Our system of governance did not mandate that the clergy have the final word on what was constitutional. Despite what the Justice Sunday crowd would like to see, we have always had a tradition of strict separation of church and state.

So when the reporter says that Iraq "...may in time find a balance..." I simply can't decide if he's being obtuse or ignorant.

I cannot say this enough:

There will never, never, never, EVER be any balance as long as the mullahs sit on the Supreme Court. If God is the highest authority in their system of governance, by definition it is not a democracy. Period.

Yesterday, Bush attempted to "catapult the propaganda" and explain again what the noble cause was for which our forces fought and died:

"We will finish the task that they gave their lives for. We will honor their sacrifice by staying on the offensive against the terrorists and building strong allies in Afghanistan and Iraq that will help us... fight and win the war on terror."

Bush said the Iraqis were doing their part by moving toward independence.

"The establishment of a democratic constitution will be a landmark event in the history of Iraq, in the history of the Middle East," Bush said.

He was paraphrasing Lincoln who said this:

...[W]e here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

An Islamic Republic with the mullahs controlling the Supreme Court is not government of the people.

Our country spent -- continues to spend -- its blood and treasure to see the Iraqi people freed from tyranny. But the establishment of an Islamic Republic in Iraq is an insult to the memory of the men and women who died to make Iraq free.