NEVER GIVE UP: NEW IRAQ CONSTITUTION

J. Grant Swank, Jr.

Were all Early Americans united on all issues? Hardly. Were there disputes among the early settlers? Certainly. Does all that go to make up a new venture? Of course.

Same in New Iraq. Why should it be any different?

Obstacles to overcome in the original colonies? Sure thing. Enemies to overcome? Yes, for certain.

Same in New Iraq. Why should it be any different?

So it is in New Iraq that those who are working on the new constitution state to world media that they will keep to schedule. They have lost family members by suicide attacks. They have squabbled and argued. They have considered some friends lost to the cause.

Yet the constitution in place will happen. Only that which is worthwhile is worth fighting for. So be it in New Iraq and anywhere advancements go forward for democracy plantings.

America’s liberties were not put in place in a day or month or year or century. It took a long, long time and still is taking time and sacrifice to live out a republic.

The struggle never ends. It is all worth it; at least that’s what we Americans proclaim year upon year, particularly from our Congressional halls and July 4th celebrations — fireworks, hot dogs, parades and all.

Females. Where do they stand in the New Iraq? Females in old Muslim tradition are the scum of the earth. They don’t count. They are conceived with ten curses upon their very existences.

But there are those in New Iraq who stated forthrightly that the old Muslim tradition is not fair, not good, not for New Iraq. Therefore, they are championing equality between the genders.

"Women should be full citizens with full rights, not semi-human beings," states Yanar Mohammed, head of Women’s Freedom in Iraq Movement.

So there you have it: struggle, pronouncements, declarations, disputes and the push for freedoms border to border and person to person. It’s all new to the people who cowered beneath the human shredding machines of Saddam Hussein.

But it will happen. The new liberties will come to pass. The nation will mature and blossom. The human spirit will continue to spring up with hope and determination.

Of course, nothing that the US Democratic Party has done will make it possible. Nothing that the nay-saying journalists will aid. Nothing that the Muslim mosque clerics and Islamic despots of various countries will do will assist.

All these clutches maintain the negative, the defeatist attitude. And so they have nothing to gain from the New Iraq achievements. And they have no rewards to come upon in the New Iraq decades ahead.

Of course, in a spiritually damaged world, the realists expect the difficulties, the obstacles and those who seek to thwart any progress. It’s so in our own families and clans. It’s so in our own communities, let along the nation.

Therefore, it will be likewise in New Iraq. But the positive and persistent don’t let the problems get them down. They work around the wounds, lift up the fallen and encourage the optimistic.

Islam is not so much a religion among world religions as it is a killing cult. Its Koran spells out the deity’s pronouncements to slay all non-Muslims; those Muslims not willing to do so are to be slaughtered.

Now that is one large barrier to New Iraq freedoms. However, there are those in New Iraq who are determined to even denounce the cult and carry on with new-found liberties. They have seen the light of democracy and want it badly enough to sacrifice and change.

It is hard for Americans to imagine building an infrastructure from nothing. That’s New Iraq.

It’s difficult for those in the United States to understand what it means to overcome the Saddam decades of hell on earth. Yet that’s what’s ahead of the New Iraq construction. It can be done.

There are those seeing that it is done, midst blood dripping from the bodies slain. Yet there are those who still cling to hope for the future.

These are the genuine heroes of the New Iraq, both within the new government and outside the new government. They are the heroes.

"The chairman of the committee drafting the new constitution told reporters that subcommittees dealing with specific articles would finish their work within the next two days and submit their reports for review," according to AP News.

"Humam Hammoudi, a Shiite cleric, said he was confident the committee would finish the final draft by the end of the month so that parliament could meet an Aug. 15 deadline for approving it. The document then goes to a referendum by mid-October."

I believe Humam Hammoudi is on target. Good for Humam Hammoudi. May his number increase and increase and increase for years and years to come.