Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Iraq, What it's New Constitution Won't Be

A humor bit on MSNBC / Newsweek presents the Idea of the Iraqis buying their constitution on E-Bay.

The announcement of the National Assembly's decision to turn to eBay for its new constitution came at a press conference held by Iraq's Planning Minister, Barham Saleh.

"After much discussion, we have decided to seek a new national charter on eBay," Saleh said, adding, "I got a wonderful set of mixing bowls there just last week."


This also points out the difficultly that this approach presented.


But in the first day of surfing for constitutions on the eBay site, there were signs that old rivalries were rearing their ugly heads, as Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds fought for control of the computer's mouse.


This little paragraph brings up to a truth that Bush doesn't want to face. The document that the Iraqis are working to craft, if they actually do create something, will not have the ability to last.

The forces within the land do not have much interest in creating a new Iraq, but are very interested in making sure that their group (Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis) gets as much as possible, at the expense of the other factions. This is a recipe for civil war, and that is exactly what is happening.

Iraq must have a Constitution, but this needed to be created in an environment where trust and cooperation were paramount, not in an environment where all factions are involved in planning for their own defenses against the other members of their own greater society. They needed stability, security and relative peace, something we have failed to give them. Trying to design a new nation, while a war is raging, while the people who will live there are working to find a way to separate from the whole with the nations assets is just a exercise in futility.

And remember, we are already into a 7 day extension past the original deadline.

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