THOUGHTS ON AN IRAQI CONSTITUTION

Iraq does need a constitution, but not one written by the French or the U.N. The simple fact is that the French and most members of the U.N. do not even understand what a constitution should be. As evidence, a former French president and current president of the European Convention, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, has just submitted a proposed 242-page constitution for the European Union, as contrasted with the U.S. Constitution of 15 pages. The constitutions of most U.N. members are also excessively long, do not adequately protect individual liberties, and are filled with demands, falsely called "rights," for such things as housing, medical care, etc., that can only be met by coercing others to provide them.

The U.S. government has plunged headlong into bringing economic and political reform to Iraq, but is doing so without a clearly articulated and understood master plan, thus giving the French and others opportunities to make mischief.

For Iraq to succeed, it needs to become a democratic and free-market country under the rule of law where individual rights and liberties are protected. This goal requires a constitution that creates a democratic system of government, protects individual liberties and property rights, and establishes the rule of law. Such a constitution can be drafted within a few weeks (as was the U.S. Constitution, whose authors did not have the benefit of word processors).

The U.S. should take a major hand in drafting the constitution to make sure it follows the model of the two oldest and most successful democracies, the U.S. and Switzerland. It needs to: protect basic rights, such as speech, press, religion, assembly and so forth; confine the powers of government to secure the liberties of the people through separation of powers; and protect economic liberties and private property. It should not contain "active rights" such as a demand for "adequate incomes." If the new constitution is more than 20 pages, it will probably fail to do what is needed.

Some in the international community and the news media are saying we must leave the constitution writing to some elected group of Iraqis for it to be legitimate. That is thinking backward. The administration should pick some well-qualified Iraqis and Americans who have a clear understanding of constitutional law and what a constitution needs to do, have them write it within a couple of weeks, and then promote it to the Iraqi people.

The authors of our own Constitution had to spend weeks selling it to the American people — that is what the Federalist Papers were all about. It is not who writes the constitution that gives it legitimacy, but whether the people accept it in a ratification process.