ELEANA GORDON: Open Door to Islamic Rule

From today's National Review Online:

It was a relief for many Iraqi women and democracy activists when Thursday's deadline for Iraq's national assembly to vote on the draft constitution came and went. As the deadline loomed, many Iraqis frenetically rang the alarm bell about major loopholes in the constitution that open the door for Islamic law in Iraq. The delay buys a little time to work to close these loopholes — but it won't happen without U.S. support. Read More.

Comments

[Q. Thompson]

Its not surprising that shannigans are happening in the drafting of the Iraqi constitution. Any lay observer could have seen this coming a long time ago.
Equal rights for women will only be cosmetic. It looks good on the outside, but on the inside its a different story. The attributes needed to develop a pluristic democracy in Iraq is severely lacking.

According to Patrick Basham,

"A political culture shapes democracy far more than democracy shapes the political culture. The building blocks of a modern, democratic political culture are not institutional in nature. The building blocks are not elections, parties, legislatures and constitutions. Rather, they are found amidst supportive cultural values and apt economic conditions." (Cato Institute April 2004)

The Arab Muslim culture is not going to tolerate a liberal democracy. There is a big vacuum in Iraq and the greater middle east that does not allow breathe for libertarian values. This is why American support for the war has gone sour. It is disturbing to me that the subject of sharia law is the issue that is holding up the process. Did our troops fight and die so that sharia law should be the law of land? Many informed Americans have come to realize that the noble US efforts to implace a representative democracy is not going to happen.

There is no doubt that Americans wish the best for the Iraqi people. But, when will the Iraqis and the Arab middle east support the idea of democracy? Why does the majority of the Arab and Muslim world not support Iraq in their freedom? Why are Iraq's neighbors allowing their borders to be infiltration routes and safe havens for insurgents? Why haven't there been a muslim worldwide march of solidarity for the Iraqis to support their quest for constitutional freedom?

The culture for liberal democracy is just not there.