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["Melody O." <melody AT crecon.com>]

At 01:09 PM 1/11/05 -0700, you wrote:
>
>>I am not understanding.  You do not believe that what they have is a
>>constitution?
>
>Correct, the Iraqi people do not have a constitution. They have an 
>administrative law that is designed to give them a path toward a 
>constitution designed and signed by elected representatives. The interim 
>administrators were appointed, not elected. They may or may not represent 
>the wishes of the Iraqi people. The form of the proffered constitution will 
>be decided by the elected representatives.
>

I understand now.  A constitution, though, is just administrative law; the
official definition being "The system of fundamental laws and principles
that prescribes the nature, functions, and limits of a government or
another institution."  In this case, this particular consitution is to be
used temporarily until the elected leaders write, sign, and ratify a
permanent constitution. 

My concerns are that as the elected officials come into power, they will
have a hard time ridding themselves of the temporary constitution.  For
instance, check out this wording:

Article 43

(B)       All judges sitting in their respective courts as of 1 July 2004
will continue in office thereafter, unless removed from office pursuant to
this Law.

Article 47.

            No judge or member of the Higher Juridical Council may be
removed unless he is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude or
corruption or suffers permanent incapacity.  Removal shall be on the
recommendation of the Higher Juridical Council, by a decision of the
Council of Ministers, and with the approval of the Presidency Council.
Removal shall be executed immediately after issuance of this approval.  A
judge who has been accused of such a crime as cited above shall be
suspended from his work in the judiciary until such time as the case
arising from what is cited in this Article is adjudicated.  No judge may
have his salary reduced or suspended for any reason during his period of
service.

So in other words, it will be very difficult to "de-throne" these
hand-picked judges.

I am sure that there are a great many stipulations like this in the
temporary constitution that will make changes very difficult to make.

So even though, and I am with you, this temporary constitution is not valid
inasmuch as it was written *for* the Iraqis and not *by* the Iraqis, it is
still seen as valid by the interim officials, the UN, and the US, and I
believe it will gum up the works as the elected leaders attempt to write
the final constitution and dismantle the way the administration is
currently ran.

Best wishes,
Melody