Did Iraq have any sort of Government Charter or Constitution before we

[Toots]

overthrew their government and occupied their lands? How was their government laid out before US intervention. I know it was completely Secular and Iraqis had a very good standard of living and high education level. Women could do anything men could do and the second most powerful person was a Christian. Did they have anything in writing though? Was it written anywhere how they would be governed?

[enigma000]

1. 1990 Iraqi Constitution

http://www.iraqfoundation.org/projects/constitution/local_iraq1990.pdf

Do note that per article 4, Islam was the state religion. But that doesn't detract from its secularism. Even in secular Britain the Church of England is the official church -- though, unlike the Anglican bishops, it seems Iraq's imams didn't get permanent seats in the national legislature.

[enigma000]

2. Women's Rights

Perhaps not the utopia for women I believed it to be.....

http://wwics.si.edu/news/docs/crsrpt.pdf

Deterioration of the Legal Situation

The 1970 Iraqi Constitution issued by the Baathist regime declared equal rights for all Iraqis, regardless of sex, race, language, social origin, or religion. In 1980, Law No. 55 granted women the right to be nominated to the Iraqi National Assembly. Labor laws also required equal pay, benefits, and promotions for men and women.
For the most part, the personal status laws in Baathist Iraq were based on the 1959 Code of Personal Status, which drew on various sources including Islamic law, customary law, and judicial precedence. Under this Code, polygamy was permitted only with the consent of the Muslim courts in Iraq. Compulsory marriage was punishable by law. A wife was entitled to request dissolution of her marriage if her husband did not “fulfil any lawful condition stipulated in marriage contract.”

In practice, these laws were often not enforced. After the Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988, some sources indicate that a man was able to “divorce his wife without paying compensation, and men were also allowed to marry several wives without consulting current spouses.” In the 1990s, the legal situation of Iraqi women began to deteriorate further. In 1990, as part of an effort to gain support from Iraq’s tribal leaders and religious fundamentalists, Saddam Hussein introduced Article 111 into the Iraqi penal code. This law exempted men from punishment for the practice of “honor killings,” that is if they killed female relatives who had committed perceived sexual improprieties (even if these women were raped). Some reports suggest that Hussein also allowed the observance of a strict interpretation of shar’ia law, which called for the stoning death of women as a form of punishment for adultery