The Iraqi
Constitution
We
Americans are very proud of our Constitution,
though we dont use it that often, and we want Iraq to have one
reasonably like
it. It should be democratic, with
womens rights and stuff, but beyond that were giving them a
lot of latitude. After all, the whole reason we invaded Iraq is to give the Iraqis
self-government.
Anyway, thats the reason
now, even if it wasnt the reason at the actual time of the invasion.
We invaded at the time because the White House had determined
determined in the sense of decided, not necessarily
discovered that the tyrant Saddam Hussein possessed
weapons like ours and was apt to use them.
These included, or would soon
include, nuclear weapons, and nuclear weapons are terrible things when they
fall into the wrong hands. In the right hands, such as our own, they do a lot
of good, such as shortening wars. Nuclear wars dont drag on and on
and become quagmires; theyre over before you can say Jack
Robinson, or for that matter Pee Wee Reese, or
Gil Hodges.
But lets get back to the
Iraqi constitution. How they write it is pretty much up to them, within limits.
One difference between theirs and ours was that ours was written
after we got the foreign troops out, whereas theirs is being
written under the supervision of the foreign troops, which in
this case are us. Another difference between Iraq and us is that we have a
Monroe Doctrine advising foreigners to stay in their own hemisphere, and
they dont.
If you stop to think about it, it
would put a severe crimp in U.S. foreign policy if everyone had a Monroe
Doctrine, wouldnt it? We like to help people, after all. Just as the
French export wine and cheese, we export self-government. It helps keep up
the balance of trade. But you cant export self-government unless
you have someone to take it where its needed, a rather obvious point
that Casey Sheehans mother seems unable to get through her head.
![[Breaker quote for The Iraqi Constitution: But will it have penumbras?]](2005breakers/050823.gif) Not
everyone agrees. Some Americans, called
isolationists, think Americans should stay home and mind our own
business. Thats what a lot of foreigners think, too. They want
us to consume their exports, but they dont want to consume ours.
Exporting the blessings of liberty
can be difficult when the natives refuse to accept them peacefully and those
blessings have to be inserted anally, as it were, like an enema, which is no
fun, maybe, but is good for you. Again, if everyone had taken the view that
Americans should stay home and mind their own business, as
the tired cliché has it, we wouldnt have been able to win World
Wars I and II. In fact, we wouldnt even have been able to fight them.
Or shorten them. Or give the aggressors that is to say, the losers
democracies and constitutions.
When you fight a war with the
United States, you are by definition the aggressor. As Lincoln warned the
Southern states before invading them, You yourselves will be the
aggressors. And the pattern could hardly be clearer: history shows
we only invade aggressive countries, such as the Philippines.
Its a good thing the
aggressors always lose, or today all Americans might be speaking with
Southern drawls, even in Brooklyn and Boston. Imagine Ted Kennedy saying,
Yall come now, heah? and youll appreciate what
a close shave we had. The so-called Civil War might better be remembered as
the War of Southern Aggression.
When you lose a war with the
United States, democracy and a shiny new constitution, right out of the
showroom, will be your consolation prizes. And we will even help you rebuild
any cities it has been necessary to carpet-bomb or nuke. Our friendly troops
will distribute candy to your surviving children. Yes, war is hell, but we try to
make losing a war a little bit of heaven.
Of course there will be the
inevitable questions. Will the new Iraqi constitution be a living document, like
ours, with lots of penumbras formed by emanations? The news reports are
inconclusive on this, but we can hope for the best. We can only do so much;
the rest will be up to the Iraqi judiciary.
Joseph Sobran
|