New Iraq constitution may throw
women's rights into Stone Age
August 26, 2005
By Jerry McGlothlin
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
On Aug. 23, President Bush said, "The fact that Iraq
will have a democratic constitution that honors women's rights,
the rights of minorities, is, is going to be an important change
in the, in the broader Middle East." (New York Times)
Reality Check: Although the president may be well intentioned
in his "wishful thinking" statement, it appears obvious
he has never read the Quran or the key tenants of Islamic "Sharia"
law. If he did, he would know that Sharia law (the proposed backbone
of the new Iraqi constitution that nullifies all laws that contradict
the beliefs of Islam) is the antithesis of a handbook on women's
rights.
The best laid plans of nice men are may quickly go awry as
pressure mounts for Iraq to adopt a final constitution aimed
at resolving thousands of years of disputes with a two-headed
hydra: a "democratic" constitution embedded with Sharia
law. Frankly, in the opinion of this writer, this animal ain't
gonna fly.
Why? Because it will likely lead to Muslim clerics sitting
as Supreme Court justices, striking down any law that conflicts
with Islamic (Sharia) law. And why not? The new Iraq constitution
essentially states that now law can be passed that conflicts
with Sharia law.
Sadly, this ancient nation appears to have traded one secular
dictator for a whole set of even worse oppressors hundreds,
if not thousands of Islamic mullahs who may soon be empowered
to overrule virtually any democratic freedom, thwart any democratic
law, supplanting them with harsh Sharia law laws that,
frankly, throw human rights for women back into the Stone Age.
If this happens, President Bush's naive statement may go down
in history along side Neville Chamberlain's infamous assurances
that Hitler was a man of peace.
If Sharia law becomes the governing doctrine of Iraq, a fair
question might be: "When did you stop beating your wives?"
The answer: "I never stopped. Sharia law forbids me to stop
beating them."
SO, IS THIS THE NOBLE PURPOSE FOR WHICH U.S. CITIZENS PAID
HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS? IS THIS THE HIGH CALLING
FOR WHICH OUR SOLDIERS DIED? SIMPLY TO GIVE MUSLIM MEN THE CONSTITUTIONAL
RIGHT TO BRUISE ARMS?
I think not.
Granted, not all Muslim men beat their wives even if Muslim
Sharia law gives them the "right" to do so, but why
should even one Iraqi woman be subjected to such abuse?
The American people deserve to see the free Iraq that their
soldiers died for. These precious men and women of valor did
not give their lives simply to create The Islamic Republic of
Iraq. And now that Iraqi men and women have had a taste of freedom,
it would be cruel and unusual punishment to throw them back under
the bondage of the harsh Sharia law that currently enslaves the
people of Iran and Sudan. We cannot we must not-- allow
this to happen to the people of Iraq.
Today, there are just over 1 million non-Arab, non-Muslim,
indigenous people of Iraq, many of whom have lived in the land
now longer than both the Arabs and Kurds. Some of these non-Muslim
people groups have been on the receiving end of genocide campaigns
for centuries. In these historic bloodbaths, Muslims have killed
down the oldest inhibitors of Iraq (formerly Mesopotania/Asia
Minor/Assyria/Babylon) from many millions to just over 1 million.
And, sadly, if Sharia law becomes constitutionally protected
in Iraq, it could soon be "open season" on Iraq's non-Muslims.
Why? Simply because Islamic law not only encourages, but commands
Muslims to convert or kill non-Muslims.
Over the years, life has been particularly tough for women
in the Kurdish regions of Iraq. Even when non-Muslim women were
shown "mercy" by not being killed, they faced what
some might call "a fate worse than death": female circumcision.
Although not widely reported in Western media, there is already
extreme social pressure put on Iraqi women to comply with Kurdish
Sharia law that requires female circumcision to "protect
her" from being considered "ritually unclean"
by the mullahs.
IS THIS THE HIGH CALLING AMERICA HAS TO LEAVE IRAQI WOMEN
AS A LEGACY? THE CONSTITUTIONAL "RIGHT" TO HAVE THEIR
CLITORISES SURGICALLY ALTERED OR CUT OFF COMPLETELY?
Again, I think not. But if Sharia law is enshrined in the
current proposed constitution for Iraq, thousands, perhaps millions,
of women could quickly become maimed for life.
Who are these forgotten minorities?
Iraq's forgotten minorities including the Assyrians from the
ancient Assyrian Empire ("The men of Nineveh" referred
to by Jesus Christ himself in the Bible and the one remaining
people groups on Earth who can watch "The Passion"
by Mel Gibson without subtitles since their native tongue is
ancient Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke.)
Other non-Muslim and non-Arab Iraqi minorities include Mandeans
and Yezidis, plus there are the often-forgotten minority Muslim
groups such as the Turkoman and Shabak who are oppressed by Barzani
Kurds. Although hardly mentioned in the major media, these ancient
people have been fleeing Iraq in unprecedented numbers under
persecution by Islamic militants and severe discrimination by
the Kurdish Muslims, among whom many of these minorities live
in northern Iraq.
Chaldo-Assyrians and human-rights activists charge that the
Kurds are diverting the share of the non-Kurdish minorities'
aid to areas inhabited by Kurds. As a result, Christian villages,
largely, have not benefited from U.S. reconstruction funds and
remain uninhabitable, lacking basic infrastructure such as water,
electricity, schools, roads and health clinics.
Under the current proposed constitution is the potential for
the ancient Assyrian Nineveh Province to be "gobbled up"
by Kurds. This very real concern has already caused between 60,000
and 80,000 Chaldo-Assyrian Christians up to 10 percent
of their total population to have left Iraq over the past
year. And how much worse would it be for these oppressed non-Muslim
minorities if overnight the law of the land would become Islamic
law? Such law permits and even encourages the mass murder of
non-Muslims.
Sound impossible? Two million "conscientious objectors"
to Sharia law died brutal deaths in the Islamic Republic of Sudan.
How difficult would it be to annihilate the remaining one million
non-Muslims of Iraq if outrageous Sharia law gains constitutional
protection and enforcement? And what might the gravestone read
on such a mass grave?
Perhaps, "RIP: 1 million men who refused to beat their
Iraqi wives."
Jerry McGlothlin is an Assyrian-American.
* http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45984
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