By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
March 10, 2004
On Monday, after several stops and starts, the Iraqi Provisional Council, which is composed of representatives from Iraq’s many ethnic, religious and political groups, signed a document that is actually a combination Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. The document sets up a two-phased transitional period in effect declares its independence from tyranny, creates a bill of rights and “the formation of a fully sovereign Iraqi Interim Government that takes power on 30 June 2004,”
The second phase “shall begin after the formation of the Iraqi Transitional Government, which will take place after elections for the National Assembly have been held as stipulated in this Law, provided that, if possible, these elections are not delayed beyond 31 December 2004, and, in any event, beyond 31 January 2005. This second phase shall end upon the formation of an Iraqi government pursuant to a permanent constitution.”
This could not have taken place without the action approved by George W. Bush in March of 2003. Creating a new government that recognizes that its power is derived from the people, not a dictator, king or military leader usually takes a lot more time. After all, the founders of the United States of America took 13 years from the signing of America’s Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776 to the signing of the Constitution of the United States on September 17, 1787. America’s interim stage, after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and introduction of the Articles of Confederation, which set up a federal form of government, took four years from passage of The Articles of Confederation didn’t work very well, and it took another ten years, to 1791, to get the Constitution and the Bill of Rights written, debated and ratified by all 13 States.
The document signed Monday in Iraq combines some of the fundamental rights it took Americans 15 years to adopt after its declaration of independence from tyrannical rule. Chapter II, Article 12 of the Iraqi document states:
All Iraqis are equal in their rights without regard to gender, sect, opinion, belief, nationality, religion, or origin, and they are equal before the law. Discrimination against an Iraqi citizen on the basis of his gender, nationality, religion, or origin is prohibited. Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the security of his person. No one may be deprived of his life or liberty, except in accordance with legal procedures. All are equal before the courts.Chapter II, Article 13 spells out human rights that henceforth will be guaranteed the people of Iraq:
(A) Public and private freedoms shall be protected.
(B) The right of free expression shall be protected.
(C) The right of free peaceable assembly and the right to join associations freely, as well as the right to form and join unions and political parties freely, in accordance with the law, shall be guaranteed.
(D) Each Iraqi has the right of free movement in all parts of Iraq and the right to travel abroad and return freely.
(E) Each Iraqi has the right to demonstrate and strike peaceably in accordance with the law.
(F) Each Iraqi has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religious belief and practice. Coercion in such matters shall be prohibited.
(G) Slavery, the slave trade, forced labor, and involuntary servitude with or without pay, shall be forbidden.
(H) Each Iraqi has the right to privacy.
It took the freedom-loving Americans almost 90 years to adopt the 13th amendment to their constitution, in December 1865, eliminating slavery and forced labor.
Equally significant is that this new Iraq governing document gives women the same civil rights as men immediately. Iraqi women have the right to vote. It took from July 4, 1776 to August 10, 1920, or 124 years, before American women got the right to vote in the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Since approximately 60% of the Iraqi people are Shiites, there has been much media hand-wringing over Islamic fundamentalist Shiite clergy taking control of the new Iraq. There are many intelligent, educated women in Iraq, many of them Shiites. Now that all Iraqi women are able to vote, I doubt they will vote for Taliban style laws that enslave them. If they do, they deserve what they get.
However, the public issue that the Shiite clergy complained about most and attempted to change involved minority or “states” rights. Chapter 8, Article 52 of the Iraqi transition document puts it this way: “The design of the federal system in Iraq shall be established in such a way as to prevent the concentration of power in the federal government that allowed the continuation of decades of tyranny and oppression under the previous regime. This system shall encourage the exercise of local authority by local officials in every region and governorate, thereby creating a united Iraq in which every citizen actively participates in governmental affairs, secure in his rights and free of domination.”
Apparently the Shiite clergy want a pure democracy that would allow them to oppress the Kurds, who are about 20% of the population. In the words Hussein Tahiri, a Kurd writer “The Iraqi Shi’ites that thus far have been oppressed by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein are turning to an oppressor despite the fact that they still have no power. Just imagine if they controlled Iraq what would they do to Kurds?"
Chapter 8, Article 53 recognizes the Kurdistan Regional Government as "the official government of the territories that were administered by that government on 19 March 2003 in the governorates of Dohuk, Arbil, Sulaimaniya, Kirkuk, Diyala and Neneveh."
For the Kurds and for women and for the average Iraqi the American media never seem to have time to talk to, being able to actually control their own government is a very big deal. All who claim to love liberty, I would think, would be celebrating its advance into Iraq.
To Comment: Mary Mostert