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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: frankw1900 who wrote (37441)	4/2/2004 1:55:20 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793964

It isn't going to be "Peoria," Rascal. But the "standard of value" is a good one. "The Australian." - Just the rule book for Baghdad's budding democrats 26mar04 IF I were a terrorist interested in Iraqi affairs, I would certainly reach for the plastique after reading Iraq's interim constitution because it would make me feel insecure, if not desperate. For sure, it's only interim and the work of an interim Governing Council appointed by foreign invaders. And sure, Shia members of the council danced warily around the interim constitution before signing it. Who knows what interim plans they and others have for dealing with it in the future? But it's foggy thinking to ignore the document or underrate its importance. The interim constitution (its 22-page text is available on cpa-iraq.org makes encouraging reading because it is intrinsically a hymn to orderliness. Consider its principal provisions. The system of government proposed for Iraq is republican, federal, democratic and pluralistic. Power is to be shared between the federal government and regional governments. The federal system is to be based on "geographical and historical realities", thus denying legitimacy to mini-caliphates constructed on the basis of "origin, race, ethnicity, nationality or confession". Federal law is to prevail if contradicted by regional legislation. Islam is recognised as the official religion and a source of legislation, with no law contradicting "universally agreed" Islamic tenets. However, the constitution guarantees the full religious rights of all Iraqis. Every adult Iraqi gets to vote in fair, open and periodic elections. The armed forces are to be under civilian command and no military personnel may stand for office – nor any retired ones until they have been out of uniform for 18 months. Courts and judges are to be independent, with no government instrumentality, "including the ministry of justice", having authority over them. The courts alone may issue search warrants allowing police or other officials to enter private houses. Without a warrant, nobody can legitimately get through the door. Civilians can't be tried by military tribunals. Trials before constituted courts must be speedy and open, with everybody entitled to be represented by competent counsel. Torture, "in all forms, physical or mental", is outlawed. Nobody is permitted to own, carry, buy or sell arms without a licence. Militias are to be placed under central armed forces command. Public property – oil pipelines, say – is to be sacrosanct and its protection "the duty of every citizen". Every Iraqi will have the right to own property. Freedom of speech and the press are guaranteed, as is personal privacy. Iraqis will be able to join unions, form political parties, demonstrate and strike, and travel wherever they wish within their country and abroad. Slavery and forced labour are abolished. Everybody will be entitled to education, healthcare and social security. Sure, this interim constitution is no more than a set of ideas in search of substance, the search probably hazardous. But ideas are difficult to car-bomb and in post-Saddam Iraq ideas have momentum. Hundreds of newspapers have jumped into existence in the past year, many of them ratbag rags that act as mouthpieces for interest groups. Maybe Western example helped set this scene. But more than 30 papers have respectable enough provenance to go on line. A national English language daily, Iraq Today (www.iraq-today.com), started by a young Iraqi-American journalist named Hassan Fattah soon after Baghdad fell, is exemplary in its tough-minded independence. The Americans are in the process of handing over their apparently bungled and futile propaganda television channel to an independent Iraqi broadcasting authority for the purpose of creating a public broadcasting service on the lines of the BBC and ABC. The Iraqi authority will also issue private TV and radio operating licences and attempt to get industry agreement on codes of conduct. In short, through an already free media, virtually all Iraqis will know of the existence of the interim constitution before the national elections, due in about nine months. A high proportion will be familiar with the ideas it contains. (So will a number of people beyond Iraq. Neil MacFarquhar reported in The New York Times last weekend that, since Saddam Hussein's departure, Syrians have become bolder in challenging their overlords. Movie-maker Omar Amiralay has just produced a documentary called A Flood in Baath Country He told MacFarquhar: "I think the sense of terror has evaporated.") The ideas in the constitution will be debated in coffee shops in the run-up to the elections, in the National Assembly the elections will create and during the referendum likely to be called to lock a permanent constitution into place. This interim constitution draws a line in the sand. If you're against it, why? Please explain. Do you want torture restored? Are you telling Iraqis: "Open your door or we'll kick it down"? Are you advocating state ownership of everything? Or a theocracy? A possible response: Been there. Done this. Heard about that. No big winners. © The Australian

To: frankw1900 who wrote (37441)	4/2/2004 9:14:41 AM
From: Rascal	Respond to of 793964

The new arrangement will look an awful lot like the present arrangement. Thank you for the links, Frank. I depend on smart people like you to ask the tough questions and dig up facts. Glad to hear the NEW Iraq government y won't be saddled with having to change bank accouts for transfer of funds or change board members or get new accounts receivable and payable for a new General Ledger. According to the transparency report of the CPA: Program Review Board (PRB) Summary Minutes – February 24, 2004 Attendees: * Rodney Bent Chairman/Director Office of Management and Budget * Frederick C. Smith Deputy Senior Advisor for the Office of Security Affairs * Chris Milligan USAID * Col Frank Boynton Director, Office of Operations & Infrastructure * Efraim Cohen Governance * MAJ Todd Gondeck Representative, Coalition Joint Task Force – 7, Comptroller * Dr. Hazim Saed Iraq Ministry of Finance Representative * Christopher Segar Representative of the United Kingdom Government * Absent Representative of the Australian Government MGEN Paul Eaton CG, CMATT COL Clyde Page CMATT C-4 COL Kay Sommerkamp CPA – General Counsel Jesse Pruett Program Review Board - Regional Programs Manager COL Jim Behring CPA Comptroller COL Tony Bell CPA – HCA LtCol Robert Gurner CPA – Office of Management and Budget COL Eric Engelbrektsson CPA – Office of Management and Budget Nada Alsoz CPA – Office of Management and Budget Dr. Salah Iraq Ministry of Finance Taif Sami Iraq Ministry of Finance Nick Horne CPA – Ministry of Electricity Joel Berwick CPA – Ministry of Oil MAJ Michael Jurus CPA – Baghdad Central Monica McNight, Esq CPA – Baghdad Central LTC Walt Davis CPA – Ministry of Municipal and Public Works Gordon Mott CPA – Ministry of Transportation Linda Cameron UK Department for International Development Janusz Sznajder CPA – Council for International Cooperation COL Bob Speer CPA – Program Management Office Voting Members So, Frank, when we hand over the keys to the NEW government the biggest change we can expect to see would be what? Fill in the blanks. _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Maybe I am just a stickler for details. Help me and your country out here. Please make me wrong. "They already are the 51st State. Albeit without an election. But hey it worked that way in Florida in 2000. Everybody reports to Bremer who reports to Rummy* who reports to Bush. We pay all the bills. We make all the decisions. We are responsible for EVERYTHING!" Message 19157978; Rascal @WhatAMess.com **(Or did they change it to Condi? I know they put Condi in charge of the Peace Process in Israel.)