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The beginning of the Preamble to the Iraq Constitution, much like the United States Declaration of Independence, invokes the Creator of earth and man, to whom we owe honor and respect. It traces the lineage of all peoples to the prophet Adam. It reminds us that great leaders, teachers, and discovers from all faiths have walked the gound that is now Iraq.
THE PREAMBLE
In the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate
We have honored the sons of Adam
We are the people of the land between two rivers, the homeland of the apostles and prophets, abode of the virtuous imams, pioneers of civilization, crafters of writing and cradle of numeration. Upon our land the first law made by man was passed, the most ancient just pact for homelands policy was inscribed, and upon our soil, companions of the Prophet and saints prayed, philosophers and scientists theorized and writers and poets excelled.
God watches over the Iraqi people (Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen) in both their sufferings (the depredations of Saddam, the terrors of the current insurgency, and the destruction of their lands by the Hussein regime) and their triumphs (the first free elections in their country's history). Iraqis pledge to work together to achieve religious and political harmony and freedom. In this portion of the text, the phrase "just distribution of resources" is troubling, being a possible harbinger of overuse of government power to determine such an outcome.
Acknowledging God’s right over us, and in fulfillment of the call of our homeland and citizens, and in response to the call of our religious and national leaderships and the determination of our great (religious) authorities and of our leaders and reformers, and in the midst of an international support from our friends and those who love us, marched for the first time in our history toward the ballot boxes by the millions, men and women, young and old, on the thirtieth of January two thousand and five, invoking the pains of sectarian oppression sufferings inflicted by the autocratic clique and inspired by the tragedies of Iraq’s martyrs, Shiite and Sunni, Arabs and Kurds and Turkmen and from all the other components of the people and recollecting the darkness of the ravage of the holy cities and the South in the Sha’abaniyya uprising and burnt by the flames of grief of the mass graves, the marshes, Al-Dujail and others and articulating the sufferings of racial oppression in the massacres of Halabcha, Barzan, Anfal and the Fayli Kurds and inspired by the ordeals of the Turkmen in Basheer and as is the case in the remaining areas of Iraq where the people of the west suffered from the assassinations of their leaders, symbols and elderly and from the displacement of their skilled individuals and from the drying out of their cultural and intellectual wells, so we sought hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder to create our new Iraq, the Iraq of the future free from sectarianism, racism, locality complex, discrimination and exclusion.
Accusations of being infidels, and terrorism did not stop us from marching forward to build a nation of law. Sectarianism and racism have not stopped us from marching together to strengthen our national unity, and to follow the path of peaceful transfer of power and adopt the course of the just distribution of resources and providing equal opportunity for all.
The new Iraqi government will be a democratic republic (i.e. the people will be able to vote freely for their governmental representatives). The rule of law will be respected in the treatment of men and women, old and young, and people of all religions equally. The revelations of God and the truths of science and reason will provide a basis for Iraqi law.We the people of Iraq who have just risen from our stumble, and who are looking with confidence to the future through a republican, federal, democratic, pluralistic system, have resolved with the determination of our men, women, the elderly and youth, to respect the rules of law, to establish justice and equality to cast aside the politics of aggression, and to tend to the concerns of women and their rights, and to the elderly and their concerns, and to children and their affairs and to spread a culture of diversity and defusing terrorism.
We the people of Iraq of all components and shades have taken upon ourselves to decide freely and with our choice to unite our future and to take lessons from yesterday for tomorrow, to draft, through the values and ideals of the heavenly messages and the findings of science and man’s civilization, this lasting constitution. The adherence to this constitution preserves for Iraq its free union, its people, its land and its sovereignty.
The intentions expressed for the Iraqi people in the Preamble to the Constitution are admirable. The themes of this Preamble are peace, liberty, and equality of opportunity. In most cases, the body of the Iraqi Constitution stays true to the intent of the preamble. In future posts in this series I will discuss the Constitution's strengths and weaknesses, particularly where it secures liberty to the Iraqi people versus where it makes promises that it cannot keep without taking away some of those liberties.
Posts in this series:
Iraqi Constitution and Sharia
Iraqi Constitution - Preamble
Iraqi Constitution - Fundamental Principles
Iraqi Constitution - Liberties
Iraqi Constitution - Branches of the Federal Government
Iraqi Constitution - Federal Powers
Iraqi Constitution - Regional Powers and Transition to the New Government
Summary: The Preamble to the Iraq Constitution invokes Iraq's noble heritage, proclaims the greatness of God, and secures liberty to the Iraqi people. It establishes a firm basis for liberty, but does the main text of the Constitution remain true to its premise?
1 comment:
That's a very decent Preamble. It's similar to ours, but I like how they point out what they've gone through just to arrive at where they are now.
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