The Sunnis in Iraq a…

The Sunnis in Iraq are upset with the proposed Iraqi constitution, calling it “fit only for the bin”. The political process is stymied again. Why?

As night fell, the government’s official spokesman, Laith Kubba, announced that a final version of the document had been decided and compromise reached on three issues, although he did not say which. Sunni leaders said that no consensus had been reached.

Hussein al-Falluji, a Sunni member of the drafting panel, said: “If this constitution continues to include federalism, it should be put in the bin and done again.”

It’s the concept of “federalism” that the Sunnis have an issue with; the power-sharing between “a central authority and constituent political units”. Those who are against federalism would be folks who:

• Want more and more central control over all aspects of governing (national speed limits, health care, abortion law, etc.)
• Approve of federal judges legislating from the bench rather than giving state/provinces more say in how they’re governed

And of course, some anti-federalists seek to redefine the term “federalism” to fit their objectives. (Full comparison between the two Executive Orders referred to can be found here.) George Orwell would have been proud.

So essentially what we’re seeing in Iraq is that the possibility of civil war is increasing all because of…liberal values. A stronger and stronger central government is what liberals need to get their agenda through, and federalism is a key element blocking that here. America’s Founding Fathers knew the trouble that a strong central government would bring, and instituted a distributed form of government. (Oh, and how did they make their case to the people? Via a set of articles called “The Federalist Papers”.)

What I find ironic is that anti-war folks–mostly liberals themselves–have been predicting (after all their previous predictions have failed to materialize) that we’d cause a civil war in Iraq with our invasion, and yet, should that happen, it is the very values they espouse that would, in fact, be a main cause of it.

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