Lugar To America: Brace Yourself For Theocracy In Iraq
U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) seemed to warn America yesterday that we may be surprised and disappointed by the government that results from this Sunday’s election in Iraq. The national assembly that will be elected this weekend is tasked with drafting a constitution for the new Iraqi state.
Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked that we steel ourselves for the result. “Now, from our standpoint, the United States’ standpoint, we may or may not be pleased with the final results of the constitution,” he said.
Speaking about the role of religion and government in this yet unwritten document, Lugar mused, “[W]e had testimony by some Iraqis who gave some glimpse as to how religion might fit into this, to the extent it is going to be a secular document or a theological document…. Now, the question will be how strong the ties to particular religions or religious leaders or the degree of separation of church and state the Iraqis are able to fashion.” Answering his rhetorical question, he warned, “Now, their compromise might not be one that gives comfort to all Americans. Likewise, the status of minorities or the status of women or the status of various people may or may not be what we would advise if we were offering at least our own abilities to do constitutional drafting, at this point. And my only thought is that…there may be imperfections in the election procedure, there may be an Iraqi viewpoint in this constitution that is not precisely consistent with our own. And I am hopeful that most of us are prepared for that, because otherwise, there is likely to be a sense of dissatisfaction that somehow or other a great fight has been waged and this is the result.”
Lugar’s willingness to cast aside the “status of minorities or the status of women or the status of various other peoples” in Iraq is disturbing. If, as President George W. Bush declared in his second inaugural, the goal of American foreign policy is the spread of freedom and democracy, it is difficult to imagine these qualities fostered by a government that doesn’t protect minorities or provide for a clear separation between mosque and state.
Disturbingly, Lugar appears to warn that the inevitable result of the process implemented by the Bush administration — with the complicity of the Congress — is the creation of some sort of Shiite Islamic theocracy in Iraq. If he is correct, how will he and the administration answer the families of the almost 1,500 American soldiers killed in Iraq when they ask the simple question: Is this what we sent our soldiers to die for?