Big Brother is watching

Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority Paul Bremer has made it public what the coalition administration and Washington do not wish to see in the text of the “transitional constitution.”

Temporary Iraqi government began discussing “a temporary law to govern the country” February 17th. The bill is referred to as the “constitution in transition” (the final draft will be introduced no sooner than 2005). Members of the government have talked about the temporary law for two days in a row. Afterwards, they intend to lead a “public discussion.”

However, one would be mistaken to assume that the occupational administration refused to consider the bill, which Iraqis will have to obey for almost two years. After the “public discussion,” the bill will be forwarded for further consideration by the temporary coalitional administration, namely, by the members of the occupational authorities, who will then announce their final verdict.

Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority Paul Bremer has made it public what the coalition administration and Washington do not wish to see in the text of the “transitional constitution.” According to Bremer, the United States will not allow the norms of Shariad to be included in the constitution. According to the head of the occupational administrations, Islam has to be just a source of “inspiration” and not the basis of it. Otherwise, he will simply refuse to sign this “transitional constitution.” Bremer in turn is fully entitled to decline any suggestions of the temporary Iraqi government.

In the meantime, an overwhelming majority of Iraqi people demand the norms of Shariat to serve as the basis of their constitution. In the end of last year, the temporary Iraqi government has made a decision to introduce the laws of Shariat to the country's legal proceedings. Many government members, especially those who are Shiites themselves, insist the norms of Shariat to be included in the “temporary governing law” as well as in the constitution. Americans disagree with such decision. However, it would be untimely to claim that they will not change their standpoint in the future.

As soon as Saddam fell, the idea of turning the country into Islamic nation has suddenly become popular in Iraq. Shiite leaders are the ones who pray for this to happen. Obviously, the US does not welcome such idea. The main goal of the Bush administration is to establish democratic regime in the country. So far, American authorities have not been able to achieve any significant results. The only thing the occupational administration could do at this point is to suppress any attempts to include the norms of Shariat in Iraqi laws. But these are all just temporary actions. What will happen if supporters of the Islamic nation will win the upcoming elections? Should the elections be canceled? Doubtful. This definitely will not set a good example of democracy in Iraq…