12.28.2005

Politics: Top Ten Myths about Iraq

according to Professor Juan Cole.

The guy has been spot-on since before the war and continues to expound truth in the wilderness.

This the one that jumped out at me:

7. The new Iraqi constitution is a victory for Western, liberal values in the Middle East.
The constitution made Islam the religion of state. It stipulates that the civil parliament may pass no legislation that contradicts the established laws of Islam. It looks forward to clerics serving on court benches. It allows individuals to opt out of secular, civil personal status laws (for marriage, divorce, alimony, inheritance) and to choose relgious canon law instead. Islamic law gives girls, e.g., only half the amount of inheritance received by their brothers. Instead of a federal government, the constitution establishes a loose supervisory role for Baghdad and devolves most powers, including claims on future oil finds, on provinces and provincial confederacies, such that it is difficult to see how the country will be able to hold together.

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