Progress toward Iraqi self-rule
continues with the development of an interim constitution:
Iraqi politicians agreed early Monday on an interim constitution with a wide ranging bill of rights and a single chief executive, bridging a gulf between members over the role of Islam in the future government, coalition and Iraqi officials said.
It is true that there are
some who see the new Iraqi government as a step backwards from the former regime:
Sen. Hillary Clinton said this week that Iraqi women were better off under Saddam Hussein, arguing that when the brutal dictator ran the country women were at least assured the right to participate in Iraq's public life.
In comments that went unreported by the mainstream press, the former first lady told the Brookings Institution on Wednesday that since Saddam's removal from power, Iraq's postwar governing councils had engaged in "pullbacks in the rights [women] were given under Saddam Hussein."
Sen. Clinton noted that while Saddam had been "an equal opportunity oppressor," women were at least assured certain constitutional guarantees.
While ignoring reports about the brutal dictator's rape rooms and other forms of persecution that were routine for women under his regime, Sen. Clinton insisted: "On paper, women had rights."
On paper, Saddam was elected with
100% of the vote and 100% turnout. On paper, his people
loved him. Under the former regime, paper was devalued by the lies that were printed on it.
There is some hope that in the new Iraq, paper will appreciate in value. And perhaps the junior Senator from New York did not expect the paper of new constitution to contain this:
The document set national elections to be held by Jan. 31, 2005, to create a legislature, with a goal of having women in at least a quarter of the seats. But negotiators were unable to agree on many aspects of Kurdish autonomy, leaving them to be determined later.
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