wandeljw wrote:rosborne,
From my reading, it appears the October vote will be a referendum type of thing. It has been reported in the media that Iraqis will be allowed a direct yes or no vote on the constitution. I don't think the October popular vote will be filtered by any electoral college type of thing.
It seems like a lot to ask of the general population; to evaluate and vote "yes/no" on a constitution.
I certainly wouldn't trust the majority of americans to judge the validity of our constitution.
rosborne,
I remember occasions where we were allowed to vote on specific amendments to the Illinois state constitution. The actual text of each amendment was mailed to all registered voters and also published in all local newspapers.
I also think it is interesting that the national assembly in charge of drafting Iraq's constitution has 85 female members. The 1787 United States Constitutional Convention was men only (as everyone knows).
Our congress is still over-represented by men, and they're the ones that have quickly passed legislation to undo the decisions made by 19 Florida judges last weekend. Our legislators in Washington DC are a laughing stock to the world.
They don't understand "priorities" if it slapped them in the face!
IRAQ CONSTITUTION UPDATE
The mostly secular Kurds and the religious Shiites have been negotiating a variety of issues in addition to the constitution. Even the Kurdish media reports that Shiites have made some promises about keeping the government secular. The deadline for completion of the new constitution is mid-August.
IRAQ CONSTITUTION UPDATE
From Radio Free Europe News:
"8 April 2005 -- Iraq's new president Jalal Talabani said today that lawmakers will meet a mid-August deadline for writing a constitution despite weeks of delay in forming a government. Ten weeks after Iraq's 30 January elections, a new government has yet to be formed. But progress was made this week with Talabani becoming president and Shi'ite leader Ibrahim Ja'afari named prime minister. Once a government is formed, writing a constitution is the next key political step on the road to new elections by end-2005."
do you think that the US will be prematurely "kicked out" of Iraq?
hyper,
There are a lot of protestors in Iraq demanding that the U.S. leave immediately. Iraq's current interim president does not agree with the protestors. He is telling the Iraqi people that U.S. forces are needed in Iraq until the country can rebuild its security forces. News commentators believe that U.S. troops will remain another two years in Iraq.
I wish i new a way that US forces could show that they are just trying to help in a way that iraqis would understand. But, I don't think that is pragmatically possible.
Will the assassinations of the government leaders severely affect the way that the constitution is made?
hyper,
I realize there have been assassinations in Iraq, but the actual leaders have now formed a cabinet that includes Shiites, Kurds, and Sunnis. The Iraqi people as a whole were very brave to even take part in the elections last January.
The new Iraqi president believes they will have a constitution drafted before the end of August. The draft will be voted on by the National Assembly and then submitted for a public referendum in October.
ohhhhh, nice aviator, that is neat!
The apathy of the American people (me included, sometimes) scares me. It is everywhere. I believe that we are once again rotating to the Epicureanist ways of the 60s and 70s. I would have hoped we could have learned from our past, but really, who cares about history? It isn't important, right?
hyper,
The situation in Iraq is very sad with people getting killed everyday. Right now, the Iraqi government's priority is to establish security for its people.
(Americans in the sixties were very concerned about issues. The seventies became the "me decade". I hope that now with the internet Americans are at least aware of the many serious issues, domestic and international.)
Our domestic issues are going to pot while we spend jillions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan - not to mention all the added killing and maiming.
c.i.
And you don't know the reason????
spendius wrote:c.i.
And you don't know the reason????
Frankly, I'm not entirely sure what the real reason was, because most of the reasons seem to have been proven to be based on spurious evidence.
"Never smarten up a chump!"
W.C.Fields.
spendius wrote:
c.i.
And you don't know the reason????
Actually, even Bush and Powell never knew the reason why we attacked Iraq. That's the reason they kept changing the justification for it. The last I heard, it had something to do with the ~Iraqi People.
c.i.
Yes they did.
No it isn't.
No it isn't.
Actually it was about "going to pot".
