Constitutional crisis in Iraq
I guess our legacy in Iraq will be to bring them a Constitutional crisis. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has become a liability to the government with his Shia-centric government, disenfranchising the Sunnis, so the legislature and the Iraqi president have decided they should dump him, just two months after his recent election. From Associated Press;
On Sunday night, in a nationally televised speech, al-Maliki declared he will file a legal complaint against the new president, Fouad Massoum, for committing “a clear constitutional violation.”
Al-Maliki, whose Shiite-dominated bloc won the most seats in April elections, accused Massoum of neglecting to name a prime minister from the country’s largest parliamentary faction by Sunday’s deadline. He said the president has violated the constitution “for the sake of political goals.”
Al-Maliki, speaking on Iraqi TV for the first time since U.S. forces launched airstrikes and humanitarian airdrops in Iraq last week, said the security situation will only worsen as a result of Massoum’s actions.
Of course, if Maliki was thinking of anything except himself, he would have stepped down weeks ago for the good of Iraq. Maybe they can send John Kerry in to straighten this all out – you know like he’s done everywhere he’s stuck his snooty nose.
Category: John Kerry, Terror War
Iraq? A constitution? Iraq has a constitution? Who knew? I thought the country was ruled as a religious oligarchy, with the law being Shia, as interpreted by whichever faction (Sunni or Shiite) was in power.
B Woodman….Does sound sorta ridiculous doesn’t it. Muslims abiding by a constitution. All they are doing is a monkey see monkey do show for the west to keep our aid coming. In heart, they rule by Sharia and whoever has the most seats in government, Sunni or Shiite. If they didn’t need our help in any way, any longer, out would come the guns and off would go the heads of whoever disagreed with them.
Yeah, the state religion is Islam. Who knew? Oh, and the constitution prohibits militias. That seems to be working well, wouldn’t you agree?
“This is a Lurch Activation Alert! This is a Lurch Activation Alert!…”
IMO, in Arabic the term “constitution” must translate as “fig leaf document published for Western consumption and used by the SOBs in power to justify their rule by fiat, but with no real meaning and to be ignored in practice”.
Best I can tell that’s how the word’s used in the Middle East, anyway.
Sounds rather like a quote from a visiting lecturer in constitutional law. Hmmm.
Oh, come on, you all! It’s the Iraqi version of Machiavelli’s principle at work: do whatever is necessary to maintain order without making an enemy of the Big Ol’ USofA and its cash supply.
Best I can tell, the U.S. helped draft the Iraqi Constitution. I think this is it:
http://www.iraqinationality.gov.iq/attach/iraqi_constitution.pdf
Here’s a snapshot of its history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Iraq