[LINK] New Iraqi Freedoms

[rfmcdonald]

From The Guardian, on the Iraqi constitution:

The drafts released last weekend are a cause for deepest concern. Written by a committe of 46 men and nine women, they expressly state that the main source of legislation in the new Iraqi constitution is to be sharia law, which will take precedence over international law. Sharia law decrees that personal status" (that is, family law relating to marriage, divorce, custody, widowhood and inheritance) is to be determined according to the different religious sects.

Depriving women of their long-held rights and rendering them subservient to interpretations of Islamic law could well lead to the "Talibanisation" of Iraq and an escalation of violence towards women who rebel. Indeed extremists and insurgents are already using rape, acid attacks and violence to force women to wear the veil. Now a law is set to be passed that will ban widows from working for three months following the deaths of their husbands.

I'd like to congratulate the government of the United States for its success in ensuring that the new Iraqi state has guaranteed the basic rights of all Iraqis. Alas, I can't.