Coup in Baghdad

[bemildred]

Unfinished Constitution Presented, vote Delayed

By Juan Cole

08/23/05 "ICH" -- -- According to the interim constitution, the permanant constitution should have been presented to parliament and passed by August 15. There should have been two readings of it, two days apart, before the vote. Otherwise, parliament should have been dissolved and new elections called. Parliament avoided this fate with a last-minute amendment of the interim constitution, allowed if by 3/4 vote, though the nicety of two readings of the amendment two days apart was dispensed with (arguably, unconstitutionally, though it is a relatively minor affair). The amendment stipulated that the new constitution would by passed by August 22, with other conditions unchanged.

The new constitution, with blank passages, was presented to parliament just before midnight on August 22. But parliament did not vote on it, and a "three-day delay" was announced.

---

The rule of law is no longer operating in Iraq, and no pretence of constitutional procedure is being striven for. In essence, the prime minister and president have made a sort of coup, simply disregarding the interim constitution. Given the acquiescence of parliament and the absence of a supreme court (which should have been appointed by now but was not, also unconstitutionally), there is no check or balance that could question the writ of the executive.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9920.htm

This is obvious, really, but Prof. Cole spells it out nicely.

[WCGreen]

1. Well as someone who has had to adhere to Parliamentary

procedures on more than one occasion, if you don;t follow those rules, then what rules do you follow....

And then if you don;t follow the rules you set up to not follow the rules that were in place.....

Spiraling out of control and losing what little legitimacy they had.....