[demosthenes the elder]

on this note: does anyone know anyone who can translate the original US Constitution into clear and congruent Arabic, so that we can send it as a gift (and suggestion) to the Iraqi people?

[Terpfen]

I second that.

[Fletcher J]

Absolutely - we have a system of government which has worked quite well for us for over 200 years. Why not set up an Iraqi government in the same way? Take a copy of the US constitution, and everywhere it says "United States of America", substitute the word "Iraq".

Make all the laws match current US federal laws as a start.

End of story. It's that simple. If that's not what they want, then they would have the democractic vote to change it. I'm sure, unfortunately, that they'll emmediately use that opportunity to screw up their new government just as badly as everything else the arabs do. Regardless, even after a dozen years of screwing things up, the Iraqi's would still have better system than any other arab state.

Of course, I think that if they really want to be ultra-chic, they should rename the country "Assyria". That would be cool...