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Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Islamic Iraq?

I read an article yesterday on World Net Daily that surprised and worried me. (I looked for it today, but could not find it.) It talked about the work of the Iraqi Ruling Council as they shape the new system of government. An unnamed aide to Paul Bremer said that whatever they come up with, it will most likely be built on Sharia law. First of all, one must be skeptical about quotes from unnamed sources, but, for now, let's assume it's true. Now, I'm no Muslim expert, but my understanding is that Sharia law is a conservative form of Islamic law. A system of laws that requires head coverings, prayer, etc. A system that treats non-Muslims as a subclass of people. This is not the kind of democracy I envisioned for Iraq. In fact, if we leave Iraq in that condition, I would feel the same kind (maybe not the same magnitude) of sadness that we feel for the Cambodian people who were abandoned by the US Congress in 1975. We would, in the same way, be abandoning the Iraqi people to tyranny and oppression.

I don't know what other people mean when they use the term "democratic form of government," but I know what I mean. While giving the people the right to rule themselves, it must protect the rights of all its citizens. Otherwise, the mob rules. And if the mob decides certain types of people have less rights than others ...., well, you see where I'm going.

This new Iraqi constitution must protect, for all its citizens, the rights of free speech, freedom of religion, and private property. (Am I missing anything?) If the new constitution does not insure these rights for all Iraqis, then the whole mission has been a failure. We will have accomplished nothing by invading Iraq and ousting Saddam Hussein. Not a gol darn thing. What a waste. I pray that President Bush, Rumsfeld, Bremer, et al, have more sense than that.

posted by Gary at 13:46 | [Permalink] (0) comments

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