Monday, March 01, 2004
Iraq Improving
Iraqi Council Agrees on Terms of Interim Constitution (washingtonpost.com): "The country's 25-member, U.S.-appointed Governing Council reached consensus on the 63rd and final article of the document at 4:20 a.m. local time, after more than 10 hours of almost nonstop negotiations mediated by the American administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, people involved in the meeting said.
'It's a historic document,' said Faisal Istrabadi, one of the lead drafters and a senior aide to council member Adnan Pachachi. 'Every single article, and each subparagraph, had the consensus of all 25 people in the room. . . . In the best tradition of democracies -- granted, we are an aspiring democracy -- we all compromised.'
The document, which will provide a legal framework for Iraq until elections are held and a permanent constitution is drafted, grants broad protections for individual rights, guaranteeing freedom of speech, assembly and religion, and other liberties long denied by the Baath Party government of former president Saddam Hussein. In an unprecedented step toward gender equality in the Arab world, the document sets aside 25 percent of the seats in the provisional legislature for women, council aides said."
While the provision setting a quota for women would not appeal to me in domestic legislation, such a provision in an arabic country is quite progressive. This, in conjunction with the statement (if true) that the diplomats compromised in their negotiations, seems to bode well for the future of Iraqi government and liberality.
I think that this news falls squarily in the 'good' category. Iraq is indeed improving, slowly but surely.
'It's a historic document,' said Faisal Istrabadi, one of the lead drafters and a senior aide to council member Adnan Pachachi. 'Every single article, and each subparagraph, had the consensus of all 25 people in the room. . . . In the best tradition of democracies -- granted, we are an aspiring democracy -- we all compromised.'
The document, which will provide a legal framework for Iraq until elections are held and a permanent constitution is drafted, grants broad protections for individual rights, guaranteeing freedom of speech, assembly and religion, and other liberties long denied by the Baath Party government of former president Saddam Hussein. In an unprecedented step toward gender equality in the Arab world, the document sets aside 25 percent of the seats in the provisional legislature for women, council aides said."
While the provision setting a quota for women would not appeal to me in domestic legislation, such a provision in an arabic country is quite progressive. This, in conjunction with the statement (if true) that the diplomats compromised in their negotiations, seems to bode well for the future of Iraqi government and liberality.
I think that this news falls squarily in the 'good' category. Iraq is indeed improving, slowly but surely.
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