The international comments on the Iraqi draft constitution Britain's Blair Praises Completion of Iraqi Constitution Draft Prime Minister urges participation in constitutional referendum in October Following is the text of Blair's statement on the Iraqi constitution: (begin text) Prime Minister's Office 10 Downing Street 29 August 2005 PM STATEMENT ON THE IRAQ CONSTITUTION Today's announcement of a new Iraqi constitution is an important and historic achievement. The ethnic and religious diversity of Iraq made this a particularly complex task. But compromise is the essence of democracy. This text is testimony to the determination of the Iraqi people to build a free, secure and democratic future. It protects the rights of all Iraq's communities and the unity of Iraq. The small minority who have chosen violence over democracy will no doubt respond with bloodshed and intimidation. But they can be defeated if Iraq's communities work together to build a unified Ira
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New Iraqi Constitution Advances Democracy, U.S. Ambassador Says Draft reflects reconciliation of Islamic traditions, democracy principles By Howard Cincotta Washington File Special Correspondent Washington -- The new draft Iraqi constitution protects the principles of human rights and democracy while also recognizing the nation's Islamic traditions and heritage, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said in televised interviews August 28 on NBC's Meet the Press and CNN's Late Edition. Asked about the views of the Sunni population, Khalilzad predicted on CNN's Late Edition that some Sunni leaders will support it while others will have difficulties with certain aspects of the draft. "I don't think we will know the Sunni reaction authoritatively for a few more days and weeks perhaps," Khalilzad said. "If we get Sunni buy-in to the draft, then this would become a national compact, and the draft will be very helpful in moving Iraq forward."
She Does Not Speak for Me By Ronald R. Griffin The Wall Street Journal (Opinion Journal) August 18, 2005 I lost a son in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan does not speak for me. I grieve with Mrs. Sheehan, for all too well I know the full measure of the agony she is forever going to endure. I honor her son for his service and sacrifice. However, I abhor all that she represents and those who would cast her as the symbol for parents of our fallen soldiers. The fallen heroes, until now, have enjoyed virtually no individuality. They have been treated as a monolith, a mere number. Now Mrs. Sheehan, with adept public relations tactics, has succeeded in elevating herself above the rest of us. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida declared that Mrs. Sheehan is now the symbol for all parents who have lost children in Iraq. Sorry, senator. Not for me. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times portrays Mrs. Sheehan as a distraught mom standing heroically outside the guarded gates of the most powerful and inhumane man on ear
Analysis: Mideast Course At the Mercy of Local Factions By Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, August 29, 2005 For all the attention and resources the Bush administration has poured into the Middle East, the outcome of its two most critical initiatives is increasingly vulnerable to the sectarian passions, tumultuous history and political priorities of the local players, say U.S. officials and regional experts. Two developments over the past week marked major movement for the U.S. agenda: Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, a critical step in the creation of a Palestinian state and regional peace. And Iraq submitted a constitution to its national assembly, offering the legal foundation for a new Iraqi state. President Bush yesterday and in his radio address Saturday hailed the two events as turning points in promoting democracy and peace in the region. On Iraq, Bush said its people have "demonstrated to the world that they are up to the historic ch
State Dept. Says It Warned About bin Laden in 1996 By Eric Lichtblau The New York Times August 17, 2005 State Department analysts warned the Clinton administration in July 1996 that Osama bin Laden's move to Afghanistan would give him an even more dangerous haven as he sought to expand radical Islam "well beyond the Middle East," but the government chose not to deter the move, newly declassified documents show. In what would prove a prescient warning, the State Department intelligence analysts said in a top-secret assessment on Mr. bin Laden that summer that "his prolonged stay in Afghanistan - where hundreds of 'Arab mujahedeen' receive terrorist training and key extremist leaders often congregate - could prove more dangerous to U.S. interests in the long run than his three-year liaison with Khartoum," in Sudan. The declassified documents, obtained by the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch as part of a Freedom of Information Act request an
Bush Recaps "Remarkable Events" in Middle East President lauds Israeli pullout of Gaza, Iraq's constitutional process President Bush devoted his weekly radio address on August 27 to what he called "remarkable events in the broader Middle East." The president praised Israel for taking the "courageous and painful step" of removing Israeli settlements in Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank. He called on Palestinians to "show the world that they will fight terrorism and govern in a peaceful way," and vowed to continue to help the Palestinians "to prepare for self government and to defeat the terrorists who attack Israel and oppose the establishment of a peaceful Palestinian state." He pledged to "continue working for the day when the map of the Middle East shows two democratic states -- Israel and Palestine -- living side by side in peace and security." Iraqis are making "tough choices toward a democratic constitutio
Op-Ed: Of Minds and Metrics By Michael Barone The U.S. News Metrics are hard to come by in the war on terrorism. We can know the number of improvised explosive devices that go off in Iraq and the number of suicide bombers there, but we can only guess at whether these numbers represent the last throes of a terrorist movement or its continuing growth. We can count the number of days the Iraqi parliament has moved the deadline for drafting a constitution--seven, as this is written--but cannot be sure what the effect of a finally drafted constitution will be. We can note that some 220,000 Iraqis took part in deliberations over the constitution and that the Iraqi electricity supply now exceeds that of prewar levels. But the most important changes occurring, not just in Iraq but across the Muslim world, are changes in people's minds. These are harder, but not impossible, to measure. George W. Bush has proclaimed that we are working to build democracy in Iraq not just for Iraqis but in or
The Road After Gaza Robert Malley and Aaron D. Miller 24 August 2005 The Washington Post Israel's disengagement from Gaza is a historic event, but for Palestinians and Israelis it will soon be history. Even before the last settler was evacuated, attention had shifted to what will come next. With 2006 an election year in Palestine, Israel and the United States, bold moves are unlikely. Yet prolonged diplomatic slow-motion would be the surest path to renewed confrontation. Two huge challenges limit what is feasible in the months ahead. First is a large expectations gap. Uncertainty as to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's intentions has been fueled by his hawkish past and contradictory statements. He has sought to convince the international community that evacuating Gaza was the first in a series of moves, while indicating to members of his right-wing constituency that it was the last of them. Whatever his intentions, there is little doubt that for now he wants to do little, a
Bush Outlines U.S. Anti-terror Strategy Says terrorists will fail because they have nothing positive to offer Washington -- President Bush says the United States will "stay on the offense" in the War on Terror and will not relent in what he described as a "different kind of war" fought with military power, diplomatic power, intelligence and law enforcement. "We'll complete our work in Afghanistan and Iraq,” the president said in an August 24 speech to the Idaho National Guard. "An immediate withdrawal of our troops in Iraq, or the broader Middle East, as some have called for, would only embolden the terrorists and create a staging ground to launch more attacks against America and free nations." He described Iraq as "one of the most important battlefronts" in the broader war, and said that the success of a free Iraq will deal a "crushing blow" to terrorists who aim to dominate the region. "So long as I am president we will
Mubarak Campaigns, but Does That Mean Democracy? By MICHAEL SLACKMAN New York Times Published: August 26, 2005 MINYA, Egypt , Aug. 25 - A hot breeze blew through the reed hut just on the banks of the Nile yesterday. President Hosni Mubarak, his shirt collar opened, sat casually inside as a local man recited a poem and the man's wife served the president a glass of tea. For television viewers around Egypt, it looked as though Mr. Mubarak had visited a village to mingle with its people and for them, in turn, to offer him their praise. "I swear to God, oh Mubarak, that I am in love with you," the man, Mahmoud Fathy, declared through a toothless grin. But this was a one-time, carefully scripted moment intended to make the president look like a man of the people, part of his campaign for election to a fifth six-year term. The theater of politics has arrived in Egypt, a country that has never known democracy. But many people are asking what it means that campaign posters are
Iraqi Draft Constitution Balances Islam, Democracy, Envoy Says Ambassador Khalilzad urges parties to negotiate in "spirit of compromise" Iraq’s new draft constitution strikes a careful balance between the country’s Islamic traditions and its democratic aspirations, according to U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. “This country is in the process of being built on new principles, but these principles of course cannot be divorced from the history and traditions of Iraq,” Khalilzad told reporters at an August 23 press conference in Baghdad. He said the constitution prohibits the passage of any law that contradicts the principles of Islam, democracy or human rights. “This constitution with regards to rights is a synthesis,” he said, “a synthesis between the Islamic traditions of this country and the universal principles of democracy and human rights.” The ambassador added that the draft document “contains the most far-reaching democratic and human rights commitments that ex
Text of Proposed Iraq Constitution By The Associated Press The Associated Press Monday, August 22, 2005; 8:22 PM -- Chapter One Article One The Republic of Iraq is an independent state. Article Two The political system is republican, parliamentary, democratic and federal. 1. Islam is a main source for legislation. _ a. No law may contradict Islamic standards. _ b. No law may contradict democratic standards. _ c. No law may contradict the essential rights and freedoms mentioned in this constitution. 2. This constitution guarantees the Islamic identity of the Iraqi people and guarantees all religious rights; all persons are free within their ideology and the practice of their ideological practices. 3. Iraq is part of the Islamic world, and the Arabs are part of the Arab nation. 4. a. Arabic and Kurdish are the two official languages, and Iraqis have the right to teach their sons their mother language like the Turkomen and Assyrian in the government educational institutes. b. The language
Op-Ed: When U.S. 'realism' means pining for the status quo By Michael Young Daily Star staff Thursday, August 25, 2005 Last Monday, in a speech before the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, in Salt Lake City, U.S. President George W. Bush declared: "As more nations replace tyranny with liberty, and replace hatred with hope, America will be more secure. Our nation has accepted a mission, and we are moving forward with resolve." The grandiloquence of the phrase must have provoked a gnashing of teeth among those who oppose the war in Iraq, but also those who see Bush's idealism as intolerable puffery. Political realists count themselves in the latter category, and last week one of theirs, Foreign Affairs managing editor Gideon Rose, published an impudent commentary in The New York Times informing readers that "the Bush doctrine has collapsed, so the administration has embraced realism, American foreign policy's perennial hangover cure.&quo
Security Critical to Success of Palestinian Takeover of Gaza United States, other countries support reform of Palestinian security apparatus By Phillip Kurata Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- A senior U.S. official says it is critical that the Palestinian Authority disarm HAMAS and other terrorist organizations in order to take advantage of the opportunity for progress toward peace presented by the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. "In the road map, there is a requirement to take steps toward the dismantlement of the terror organizations. Hamas is for us [the United States] a terror organization. I would expect that the Palestinian Authority would do those things. We have made those requirements clear to them," Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch said in a briefing about the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza August 24. The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and several settlements in the northern sector of the West Bank is the first significant Isr
Secular Iraqis Say New Charter May Curb Rights By DEXTER FILKINS New York Times August 24, 2005 BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 23 - Some secular Iraqi leaders complained Tuesday that the country's nearly finished constitution lays the groundwork for the possible domination of the country by Shiite Islamic clerics, and that it contains specific provisions that could sharply curtail the rights of women. The secular leaders said the draft, which was presented to the National Assembly on Monday, contains language that not only establishes the primacy of Islam as the country's official religion, but appears to grant judges wide latitude to strike down legislation that may contravene the faith. To interpret such legislation, the constitution calls for the appointment of experts in Shariah, or Islamic law, to preside on the Supreme Federal Court. The draft constitution, these secular Iraqis say, clears the way for religious authorities to adjudicate personal disputes like divorce and inheritanc