President Bush, whose popularity is falling amongst the American public in a spectacular manner, is facing criticisms at home from all directions, because of his costly failed war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. He wants this constitution to be effectively imposed on Iraqis in order to for him to say before his opponents that his plans for Iraq are going on the right track and the promised democracy is taking roots in this middle eastern country. It is ironic that the American pressure now is seen to mean that the US government, which alleges to be fighting ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ to which it has spent over $250billions and lost some 2000 US lives, is willing to back a constitution which establishes a fundamentalist state in Iraq in order to save the face of its president!

Certainly, the US ambassador to Iraq, Mr Zalmay Khalilzad, has been the most effective player behind this constitution. Being the true father of the constitution, he has been attending all the constitution meetings and exerting a great deal of pressure upon all sides, as the effective true governor of Iraq, to reach the final draft presented to parliament. He wanted results!

One has to remember that the occupied people of Iraq themselves had produced the first ever constitution in the history of humanity for mankind. It is ironic to see the manufacture of a constitution by the ambassador of the occupying US government for the occupied people of Iraq; in fact, this represents the greatest insult to the occupied people of Iraq.

The contents of this constitution clearly do not seek to establish peace and tranquillity in Iraq, because it seeks to drive a wedge between Iraqis, encourages sectarian divides, and will most likely lead to a bloody civil war. This constitution strengthens the dictatorship of the majority in a very ugly manner, which is supported by the occupation and is not based upon basic moral and logical principles.

One thing is certain, the Iraqis people are burdened by the occupation, and they are very much burdened by those shady personalities who arrived in Iraq upon the occupation’s tanks and almost immediately began a revengeful war against Iraq, its history geography, heritage and its war-devastated people. These personalities arrived full of hatred for anything that has Iraq written upon it, and are in pursuit of a very narrow self-interests on the account of Iraq and Iraqis together. It is for this reason that these personalities live in isolation within the ‘safety’ of the so-called green zone, and cannot venture out or extend their sphere of influence a few kilometres outside this zone.

Every few months, the American led occupation come up with a new ‘strategy’ for the people of Iraq offering verbal guarantees that the new strategy will lead to peace and stability. This was true when the American led occupation first established the governing council, this was true when they organised the celebrations of the ‘transfer of power to the Iraqis’ through the interim government, and this was also true when they organised the elections and made it out to be the last station on the road of salvation. Once again, the American led occupation are tricking the people of Iraq by repeating the same theatricals with regards to the constitution and its contents.

This new constitution, even if succeeded in the promised referendum, will not achieve peace and security for the Iraqi people, and will bring about the opposite effects. It will encourage violence and increase the number of cars packed with explosives, in the same manner occurred after the last elections from which the current stupid government came.

The resistance to the occupation and its collaborators will certainly continue, and will find in this constitution extra ammunitions with which it can recruit more followers from the Iraqis who have burnt by the occupation fires. Such followers see this constitution as a prescription for division, erosion of their identity and that of their homeland, and destruction of the mutual harmony and respect they enjoyed over their common history.

It is somewhat unheard of that the so-called minority Sunni Arabs, which is said to have ruled Iraq single-handedly, are the ones that oppose division under the banner of federalism, whilst the majority, which is said to have been denied its share of the rule of Iraq, is now seeking federalism in the new forgery of a constitution.

It is more likely that good will prevail from the evils of this constitution. Signs are emerging of a new national unity being created amongst the Shias, Sunnis,Turkmen, Christians, and the ancient tribes of Iraq. The re-birth of this unified front has the common aim of confronting those who have thrown themselves to the services of the occupation in its destruction of Iraq and the region as a whole. The Alsadr movement, one of the most important Iraqi faction on the arena advocating Iraqi nationalism, has already declared its opposition to this constitution and has joined the many other Iraqi factions, drawn from parts of Iraqi society, all of which aspire to an independent sovereign Iraq.

Finally, the new constitution will not stop the accelerated decline in President Bush’s popularity, and will not be the first step of along his path of escape from Iraq. Iraq has become Bush’s Vietnam. The number of American causalities is increasing in a frightening way as this occupation has now been turned into a war of human and financial attrition in every sense of the words. There is no doubt that the US president is not fighting terrorism in Iraq to provide for the security of his people in New York, but more for the protection of his client state of Israel. This is clear from the fact that his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not obliterated terrorism, as promised. On the contrary, these wars have increased the level of threat of terrorism and its dangers, and made it reach London, Madrid, Eilat, Aqaba, Taba, Sharam-ul-Shaikh and AlRriydh, and is knocking on Washington’s doors once again.