As It Should Be

From the AP:

Iraq's parliament agreed to a seven-day extension for leaders to complete a draft constitution, after politicians failed to meet a midnight Monday deadline for agreement on the charter.[...]

"We should not be hasty regarding the issues and the constitution should not be born crippled," President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said after the vote. "We are keen to have an early constitution, but the constitution should be completed in all of its items in a proper manner that appeals to all components of the Iraqi people so that the whole people interact with the whole constitution." [...]

Meeting the Monday deadline would have been a victory for the Bush administration, which had made clear in recent weeks that it was pushing for a constitution by then -- even if some issues were left undecided. [...]

Kudos to the Iraqi parliament for not bowing to pressure from the White House, which was pushing for a constitution by today's deadline to maintain the impression that things are going as planned.

What good is a constitution if the three major factions -- Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds -- won't recognize it? Settling the crucial issues of federalism, women's rights, the role of Islam and Kurdish autonomy are more important than Bush saving face.

Update: Juan Cole points out that extending the deadline at this late date is unconstitutional, and that parliament should be dissolved and new parliamentary elections held if a new constitutional draft was not approved by today's deadline.

Obviously the logistics required for another election is tremendous and might be the reason why the Iraqi parliament ignored this section of the Transitional Administrative Law. Whether any of the factions raise this point when the final draft doesn't meet their approval remains to be seen.

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