Islamic Slant in Charter Decried - Los Angeles Times

Islamic Slant in Charter Decried - Los Angeles Times: "For instance, the draft constitution makes Islam the 'official religion' of Iraq and 'a main source' of law rather than 'the' source, as many Shiite conservatives sought. But secularists remain concerned about a clause that prohibits any law that 'contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam.'

Critics fear the provision could be used by religious hard-liners to impose a strict version of Islamic law, such as banning alcohol, restricting women's rights and imposing harsh Koranic punishments such as stoning.

The Iraqi draft constitution also calls for gender equality and privacy rights and prohibits laws that contradict democracy or 'basic freedoms' guaranteed by the charter.

'It's not a workable document,' said Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim, an Islamic scholar and law professor at Emory University. 'They brushed their differences under the carpet and crafted language that they could vote for. It's a time bomb that will explode as soon as it's enacted,' he said.

An-Naim said a similar move to make laws conform to Islam by Sudan's Arab-dominated government in the 1980s sparked a 20-year civil war when southern Christians rebelled. 'It was a disaster.'

In Iraq, Iyad Jamal Din, a Shiite Muslim cleric and political activist who opposes mixing religion and government, voiced similar concerns. 'It tries to preserve human rights, but within a choking religious society that is a clone of the Iranian system,' he said. 'I fear this constitution will lead us into a dark society controlled by extremists.'

Although Iraq's charter does not envision installing a 'supreme leader' like Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, questions are already emerging about certain provisions. For example, what are the 'undisputed rules' of Islam? What constitutes 'contradicting?' Since alcohol is banned in the Koran, should Iraq become a dry nation? Are women required to cover their heads? Does a prison sentence for a thief contradict the Koran, which calls for amputation of the hand?

'The problem is that there are no agreements on these questions,' said Peter W. Galbraith, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia who advised Kurdish politicians on the constitution. 'It allows any cleric to make his own interpretation of the law and opens the door to a whole range of abuses.'

Galbraith said the draft fell well short of the sort of democratic government the Bush administration hoped to install in Iraq. 'The U.S. now has to recognize that they overthrew Saddam Hussein to replace him with a pro-Iranian state,' he said.

Kurdish negotiators had objected to many of the provisions, but they eventually agreed after securing a separate provision that would allow them to draft their own regional constitution, which could override the national charter on issues such as religion and human rights, Galbraith said.

By the same token, Shiites in the south could seek to pass a regional constitution with even stricter rules than the national one, he added."
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The new Iraqi text is a departure from Iraqi constitutions under British rule or Saddam Hussein's regime, which generally spoke only of the "spirit of Islam" as being a part of the nation's fabric.