First Amendment of the new Iraqi constitution: The right of the people to smite the neck of infidels shall not be abridged.
Okay lets imagine Iraq does turn into an islamic theocracy (and this is highly unlikely given facts on the ground). Whose fault would it really be?
Well it's clear that Islamic Iran is responsible for helping the terrorists in Iraq and forcing Iraq to become an islamic theocracy.
In other words, if Iran was secular this wouldn't be a problem. Any blame for an Iraqi theocracy lies squarely at the feet of Jimmy Carter for allowing an Islamic Iran to emerge. Also if Clinton had actually pursued Bin Laden this wouldn't have been a problem in the first place.
Just think the liberals should know this before they try to spin the situation (seems they have started).
They were always going to adopt a democracy peculiar to their beliefs. We knew that before we freed them, but were hoping they'd come to their senses.
Q: What happens when Islam conflicts with a democratic principle?
A: I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Islam wins that showdown.
Whether or not it's Theocracy Lite in 2005, we've allowed them to build a foundation at least partly made up of Sharia. Once the public can be convinced that Sharia is the primary law, it's only a matter of time for majority Shiite clerics to bulldoze their way into government and make the "necessary changes" using the democratic process.
The upshot is this, we went in there and kicked Saddam's ass. We overturned his regime, gave up 1800 lives so far, plus all the civilians who've died trying to make like better for the Iraqis and earn their living. And now this.
It doesn't make sense. We were the victors. But to the defeated have gone the spoils...
CNN is on the top of the list for informative sources...
Wackos that repeatedly bash Republicans and President Bush are to be respected as possesing some measure of insight...
The glass is always half empty in regards to what might be Republican good but always half full in regards to what might be Republican 'bad'...
Sleeper trolls are conservatives...
So, under islamic law, could the US be thrown out of Iraq?
Dear Mr. President.
I think you're a great man, and a great President- but it's pretty clear to everyone that this is ABOUT RELIGION.
Islam was the problem BEFORE the war, it is the problem DURING the war, and it will be a problem AFTER the war.
Some examples of Sharia, (islamic law):
Below are some quotes or summaries from a newsletter called Compass Direct:http://www.bible.ca/islam/islam-kills-islamic-law-shariah.htm
-Saudi Arabia, April 24, 1998, According to Amnesty International's "Behind Closed Doors" report on Saudi Arabia released in November 1997, "... the inhabitants of Saudi Arabia remain denied the most basic human rights, while the government spares no effort to conceal its appalling human rights record from public scrutiny." The report noted that Saudi's religious police, the Mutawa'een, are "invested with the authority to arrest and detain, particularly with regard to Christian worshippers."
-Saudi Arabia July 17, 1998, Under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic law, observance of any religious worship other than Islam is illegal and Christians can be arrested for either distributing Christian materials or attending private meetings for Christian worship.
-Iraq, June 15, 2001, Despite Iraq's secularized government, apostasy from Islam remains a criminal violation of Islamic "sharia" law, ultimately requiring the death penalty. Officially a secular state, Iraq legally protects the freedom of its Christian minority to worship "in churches of established denominations," although the law forbids them to "proselytize or hold meetings outside church premises."
-Nigeria , June 15, 2001, Katsina state, with a population of more than 3.7 million people, became an Islamic state on August 1, 2000, when the state government adopted "sharia," the Islamic legal system. Church leaders have been told to relocate to a designated "Christian zone. Of the 41 churches in Katsina city, 38 have been ordered to relocate.
-Nigeria, August 24, 2001, Bauchi Governor Alhaji Ahmed Adamu Muazu declared on June 1 that Islamic (sharia) law applied to all persons in the state, not Muslims only. On June 4, Muazu assigned an Islamic court judge to Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro Local Government Areas to enforce Islamic law in the predominantly Christian villages.
EXAMPLES OF SOME SHARIA LAWS. http://www.freemuslims.org/document.php?id=41
. A Muslim cannot be put to death for the murder of an unbeliever. (According to clause #14 of Prophet's Medina-Charter, proudly claimed by Sharia-proponents as "The First Written Constitution in the World".
2. A Muslim man is allowed to beat his wife or wives. - Qura'anic dictum.
3. A Muslim man is allowed to have four wives at one time. - Qura'anic dictum
4. A Muslim man can divorce his wife or wives instantaneously. Then he can marry a new set of wives and continue the cycle. - Corollary of Qura'anic dictum.
5. A Muslim woman must pay money to the husband by court orders to have the marriage dissolved. - Faulty human development on Qura'anic dictum..
6. If a divorced couple wants to remarry each other, the wife must marry another person, must have complete sex with him and must be divorced by him willingly. - Qura'anic dictum.
7. The evidence required in a case of adultery is that of four Muslim adult men - Faulty human development on Qura'anic dictum.
8. Women's testimony is not accepted in cases of adultery or in any capital offence. - Faulty human development.
9. Evidence of a female singer and slave (male or female) is not admissible. - Faulty human development.
10. Testimony of a non-Muslim that has been punished for false accusation is inadmissible. If s/he later becomes a Muslim, her/his evidence is then admissible. -Faulty human development.
11. The Judge of the Court shall be a Muslim. The Judge may be a non-Muslim only if the accused is a non-Muslim. -Faulty human development.
12. Adoption is not allowed in Sharia. - Faulty human development on Qura'anic dictum.
13. Custody of children goes to mother as long as the kids need care, normally 9 years for boys and 7 for girls, after which the father takes over. But if the mother does not pray or gets married, the kids immediately go to the father. - Faulty human development.
14. Women inherit half of men. - Faulty human development on Qura'anic dictum..
15. Women's witness is half of men's in business transactions. - Faulty human development on Qura'anic dictum..
16. If a woman is killed, the blood money (the money a killer has to pay to the family of the killed on demand to get acquitted) is half of that of a Muslim man. - Faulty human development on Qura'anic dictum.
17. Apostates (Muslims who leave Islam) automatically get death penalty. If not available for killing, their marriage is dissolved and they cannot inherit from Muslim parents or children. - Faulty human development on Qura'anic dictum.
18. Muslim men can marry Christian and Jews women but Muslim women can marry only a Muslim man. - Faulty human development on Qura'anic dictum.
19. A Muslim virgin cannot marry without permission of her male guardian.- Faulty human development on Qura'anic dictum.
20. A man can marry a woman for a fixed time, from few hours to several years (Mu'ta Marriage, - Sharia of Shia sect.). Rich men from the Middle East travel to Southern India to take advantage of this law on financially poor women, so do rich Iranian men on their women. The misery of those women and children born out of this practice are beyond comprehension. - Faulty human development.
Re: Iraqi Constitution and this statement:
a) No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam.
The LA Times "gets" it....http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept (registration needed)
Especially interesting are the statements of the islamist secularists and islamic clerics who also "get it"....
"BAGHDAD — As Iraq's transitional National Assembly prepares to approve a new draft constitution as early as today, legal experts and some political leaders warned Wednesday that the charter's explicit endorsement of Islam could give religious hard-liners a tight grasp on a country that was once one of the Middle East's most secular.
In an effort to strike a compromise between the nation's religious and secular communities, Iraq's proposed constitution reserves a central place for Islamic law in the legal system while safeguarding personal freedoms and democracy.
But the text's ambiguous language and apparently conflicting provisions left neither side particularly happy, and if approved, the document probably will be the subject of heated debate in Iraqi courts for years to come.
For instance, the draft constitution makes Islam the "official religion" of Iraq and "a main source" of law rather than "the" source, as many Shiite conservatives sought. But secularists remain concerned about a clause that prohibits any law that "contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam."
Critics fear the provision could be used by religious hard-liners to impose a strict version of Islamic law, such as banning alcohol, restricting women's rights and imposing harsh Koranic punishments such as stoning.
The Iraqi draft constitution also calls for gender equality and privacy rights and prohibits laws that contradict democracy or "basic freedoms" guaranteed by the charter.
"It's not a workable document," said Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim, an Islamic scholar and law professor at Emory University. "They brushed their differences under the carpet and crafted language that they could vote for. It's a time bomb that will explode as soon as it's enacted," he said.
An-Naim said a similar move to make laws conform to Islam by Sudan's Arab-dominated government in the 1980s sparked a 20-year civil war when southern Christians rebelled. "It was a disaster."
In Iraq, Iyad Jamal Din, a Shiite Muslim cleric and political activist who opposes mixing religion and government, voiced similar concerns. "It tries to preserve human rights, but within a choking religious society that is a clone of the Iranian system," he said. "I fear this constitution will lead us into a dark society controlled by extremists."
Although Iraq's charter does not envision installing a "supreme leader" like Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, questions are already emerging about certain provisions.
For example, what are the "undisputed rules" of Islam?
What constitutes "contradicting?"
Since alcohol is banned in the Koran, should Iraq become a dry nation? Are women required to cover their heads? Does a prison sentence for a thief contradict the Koran, which calls for amputation of the hand?
"The problem is that there are no agreements on these questions," said Peter W. Galbraith, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia who advised Kurdish politicians on the constitution. "It allows any cleric to make his own interpretation of the law and opens the door to a whole range of abuses."
Galbraith said the draft fell well short of the sort of democratic government the Bush administration hoped to install in Iraq. "The U.S. now has to recognize that they overthrew Saddam Hussein to replace him with a pro-Iranian state," he said...."
In Iraq, non-Muslims said they were anxious about their rights under the proposed constitution. Standing in front of a row of amber scotch and whiskey bottles, Baghdad liquor store clerk Bassam Aboudi, a Christian, is bracing for further intimidation by religious zealots.
Already hundreds of liquor store owners have closed shop or fled the country amid bombings and assassination attempts by Islamists. If the country officially embraces Islamic law, Aboudi said, he will join the exodus. "This is what is driving so many people out of the country," he said.