Iraqi law will be under Islamic law

Here’s the latest news from our client state in Mesopotamia, which the supporters of President Bush’s policy declared six months ago to be a “democracy”:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)—Framers of Iraq’s constitution will designate Islam as the main source of legislation—a departure from the model set down by U.S. authorities during the occupation—according to a draft published Tuesday.

The draft states no law will be approved that contradicts “the rules of Islam”—a requirement that could affect women’s rights and set Iraq on a course far different from the one envisioned when U.S.-led forces invaded in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.

“Islam is the official religion of the state and is the main source of legislation,” reads the draft published in the government newspaper Al-Sabah. “No law that contradicts with its rules can be promulgated.”

My first thought on reading this is that it exactly fits the formula of the Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, signed in 1990 by all 54 Muslim countries (and discussed by me here), in which every single human right is to be understood solely in terms of sharia, Islamic law.

So, have we helped the Iraqis create “democracy,” or have we helped them create an Islamic state? The two are, of course, mutually antithetical, except in the minds of President Bush and his supporters, for whom, if we can judge by their cries of joy and triumph last January, any political system that involves a popular election is, by definition, a democracy.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 26, 2005 05:03 PM | Send