No American-Imposed Constitution – al-Mudarrisi
Prominent cleric Taqi al-Mudarrisi in Karbala warned the US Sunday not to attempt to impose on Iraq a constitution that was inappropriate to it. He also warned against a sort of loose Federalism that would divide the country along ethnic lines. He went on to suggest that even some form of non-ethnic decentralization would be preferable. (-al-Hayat). I don’t understand what he meant by the latter, either. But I think his press conference shows the anxieties about the future shape of Iraq that are besetting Iraqi politicians and thinkers. One danger is that a US-dictated constitution will be imposed on them from without. The other is that Iraqis themselves will lack cohesion and so fall into having a failed or partitioned state.