A look at the Constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistan
While we are fighting al Qaeda and their associated groups in Iraq and Afghanistan, it would behoove us to analyze what we are leaving behind in our wake.
The constitutions of the two countries in no way represent the liberty and justice for all that our founding documents codify. D.L. Adams writes at Family Security Matters:
Article One of the constitution of Afghanistan states that “Afghanistan is an Islamic Republic, independent, unitary and indivisible state.” Article 2 of the constitution of Iraq states that “Islam is the official religion of the State and it is a fundamental source of legislation.” Both states identify Islam as the bedrock of the state and also the law of the land.
Our troops sacrifice for our liberty and security, but apparently they are also sacrificing for the establishment of an Islamic supremacist government. Islamic states have Islamic – or Shariah – law. That’s the law where Muslims are not subject to punishment for killing non-Muslims, but Muslims are given the death penalty for leaving Islam. Criticizing Islam is also worthy of the death penalty. Rape victims are stoned while the rapists go free. Except for their reproductive qualities, women are less valuable than goats. Little girls can be taken as wives (the prophet Muhammad married Aisha at six).
Would we be spending trillions of dollars and thousands of lives if we were propping up Christian regimes that had a similar legal system? I can only imagine the outcry from the progressives. So why do we do it for Islamic governments?
The bottom line is that our enemies must be defeated. But in doing so, we might reconsider how we interact with the countries that emerge from the wake of the Ba’athists in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan.