A Letter To Iraq's Parents

After contradictory reports from Iraq today, with Reuters first saying earler today that Iraqi officials were reporting a consensus would be reached and then AP saying that an extra one day extension had been given, the BBC seems at last to have the straight story on what's happening with the fabled constitution.

Talks will continue on Friday but no new deadline has been set - it seems open ended now - and in any case the text which has been agreed (PDF file) by parliamentary kurds and shias will be put to a referendum in October.

The outstanding major issues are still federalism, de-Baathification and the structuring of authority between the presidency, parliament and the government. These are pretty major things to be missing from a constitution: the nature of the nation, the people who can hold government office and the powers of the highest offices.

The Shia cannot even agree amongst themselves about these issues and their method of argument is the Kalashnikov Debating Team. This is not a constitution which will embolden Iraqis to trust the democratic process nor will it do other than encourage the insurgency to expand operations.

Mind you, the alternative to just keeping on keeping on is to dissolve parliament and start again with new elections a la January. That's what the rules say should happen but that would cause even worse disruption and almost certainly be the official beginning of a civil war. The Iraqi people are between a rock and a hard place, neither of which is of their own making. As one commenter put it on John Cole's blog - "Can somebody explain to me again how replacing a toothless secular dictator with an unstable fundamentalist theocratic Iranian client state is helping to roll back the deadly tide of Islamofascism? Speak slowly, please."

The fact remains, leaving such essential provisions out of a constitution which is being put to a referendum is ridiculous. It's cheating. It's like the high-school kid who writes an essay on the Reformation but leaves out the Diet of Wirms, Calvin and Luther. The best he would get would be a letter home to his parents - not a passing grade.

Dear Mr and Mrs Coalition,

Please could we have a parent/teacher conference about the recent conduct of your adopted sons, the Iraqi brothers? They have been inattentive and disruptive in ME 6th Grade class and it seems to be getting worse. In particular, both Sunni and Shia Iraqi show signs of possible split-personality. The other brother appears to want nothing whatsoever to do with them and is asking for a desk of his own. I am worried about all their social skills, especially given the way they treat the girls in their class and fight amongst themselves in the playground. Further, when recently they were asked to complete a project on the constitution they received three extensions and still turned in shoddy work which showed they either had not understood or had not tried to complete the assignment. I am giving them all "f"'s for their work, although I understand from them that some of their family at home have tried to excuse their work by telling them that a family member once had great trouble doing the same assignment. I looked up said family member and discovered he got an "A+" for maximum effort and teamwork in the Constitution assignment so I am sure this cannot truly be a factor. Please respond by return as at least one school counsellor is advocating splitting the brothers up, an event I am sure would be bad for the family and any classmates they have contact with and which in any case would hardly fit with your adopting all three as a unit in the first place.

Yours sincerely, Miss Tified.