GoMemphis: America At War Iraqis work on writing guarantee of rights Among those at the Ur conference was Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi exile who lives in Boston and is affiliated with the Iraqi National Congress, headed by Ahmad Chalabi. Makiya, whose writings have focused on the horrors under Saddam, has been a prime mover in trying to shape a new constitution.
He is also a favorite of the Bush administration.
In Makiya's view, a new constitution should be based on an amended form of the 1925 Iraqi Constitution that was adopted under the monarchy.
This was his favorite template, he wrote in the report, because the 1925 document was discussed among Iraqis and included important basics: no torture, a right to property, no discrimination, freedom of expression and community rights.
He also proposed procedures for establishing a permanent new constitution. A committee within a constituent assembly of jurists and constitutional experts should be established to begin drafting it, he said. It must be given deadlines so that the process did not drag on, he wrote. A census would have to be completed under international supervision to demarcate the boundaries of the federal states, he suggested.
After he completed the report last fall, the State Department put it aside.
"They did not want a report that lays a path, they wanted a sounding board," he said. "I said the big issues are about laws and rights, that it's not a touchy-feely exercise."
Last week, after the Ur conference, Makiya said he was more confident that his ideas were likely to prevail.
Like some allies in the Bush administration, Makiya has little patience with a role for the United Nations. "I fear the great hand of the United Nations," he said. "It will bend and kowtow to the lowest denominator in the region. The legitimacy comes from inside Iraq."
He is also a favorite of the Bush administration.
In Makiya's view, a new constitution should be based on an amended form of the 1925 Iraqi Constitution that was adopted under the monarchy.
This was his favorite template, he wrote in the report, because the 1925 document was discussed among Iraqis and included important basics: no torture, a right to property, no discrimination, freedom of expression and community rights.
He also proposed procedures for establishing a permanent new constitution. A committee within a constituent assembly of jurists and constitutional experts should be established to begin drafting it, he said. It must be given deadlines so that the process did not drag on, he wrote. A census would have to be completed under international supervision to demarcate the boundaries of the federal states, he suggested.
After he completed the report last fall, the State Department put it aside.
"They did not want a report that lays a path, they wanted a sounding board," he said. "I said the big issues are about laws and rights, that it's not a touchy-feely exercise."
Last week, after the Ur conference, Makiya said he was more confident that his ideas were likely to prevail.
Like some allies in the Bush administration, Makiya has little patience with a role for the United Nations. "I fear the great hand of the United Nations," he said. "It will bend and kowtow to the lowest denominator in the region. The legitimacy comes from inside Iraq."
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