Constitutional Impatience

Here’s an interesting viewpoint from an American who is spending lots of time over in the Middle East (Jordan and Iraq).

It’s not so good for Iraq. Iraqis are already impatient. The Sheat that have been held down for years are impatient to gain what they feel is their "rightful" majority rule, the Sunni who have tended to be the more privileged, educated class during the past 30 years, are impatient, as, believe it or not, a large segment of them has become supportive of a secular government, as they have been educated, and seen the prosperity that comes with Westernization. The Kurds are so impatient, marginalized and persecuted for years, they finally took their security upon themselves, and they have, for the most part, already been through what the rest of Iraq is just beginning over ten years ago.

I have been avowing for days in debates, with friends and on the blogosphere that impatience is the largest threat to Iraq today.

She goes on to point out that, according to polls, Americans are getting impatient about the situation in Iraq, due to the increased terrorism there after the elections earlier this year.

That calm lasted for a while. But then, in an all out effort, the terrorists scaled up. Starting in May we saw another escalation. I happen to equate this with the fact that elections DID mean that Iraq might indeed become a democratically elected government, or even worse was the fear of neighboring states that it could become a secular republic governmentally. Which would cause great issues for the possibility of Syria and Iran to hang on to their dictatorships long term. Which in turn led to, guess what? Another spike in terrorism in Iraq.

And in the past weeks, after the death of 21 Marines in two days, I saw the American public start to tip over the edge with their impatience. This galvanizes the enemy. Most of us agree that we can’t and shouldn’t pull out of Iraq now, for different reasons, but the most commonly agreed on one is that it would tell the terrorists that “they win.” Please, folks, show the resolve and unity we had after 9/11. When the going gets tough, we keep going. It’s how we are where we are today, it’s why we still enjoy the most prosperous and safe place to live in the world. It’s part of what makes us American.

If you feel impatient, I have a suggestion. Do something to help. And remember, our country wasn’t made in 3 years either. Nothing worth having in life comes too easily.

Remember the example above, and how quickly things can change in a mere 3 months there. Be patient. For after the bad days, the good return. (Iraqi saying)

I’ve noticed that most of the MSM analysis on the draft Constitution there has been centered around how dreadful it would be if the thing got canned and they had to start over and hold new elections for parliament and president and the like.

I’m not so sure, and I think that is just us Americans being impatient.  Does not having a constitution stop the government from providing services?  Does it stop the training and deployment of Iraqi troops and police?  Will it cause faith in the democratic process to dive bomb?

I hope not, and I think that going back to the drawing board might be a positive thing.  Number one, it gives people more time to think about what the constitution should look like and work out the kinks.

Number two, more and more Sunnis have realized that participating in the process is important to them, and another election for parliamentary representation would include far more Sunnis, and they would be better represented in the process.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Neither was America.  It took us 17 years between the Revolutionary war until the constitution was ratified and George Washington took his oath of office. 

Be patient folks.