“Part of the Arab nation”

In a recent post Juan Cole cited a Guardian article that suggested that squabbling among the Kurdish, Shi’ite, and Sunni factions was putting substantial obstacles in the way of progress on drafting the new Iraqi constitution. Professor Cole wrote:

Meanwhile, constitution-making in Iraq has bogged down. The Shiites and the Kurds might have been able to do a deal, but the addition of Sunni Arabs to the mix appears to have thrown the timetable off. The Sunni Arabs don’t like the first sentence of the draft, which proclaims Iraq a federal state. They want a centralized, France-style government, not federalism, and certainly not the loose Swiss-style federalism favored by the Kurds. Even the Shiites balk at some Kurdish demands, like the ability of the provinces to maintain their own standing armies! (Many Kurds also want to permanently exclude Federal troops from their territory).

Al-Sharq al-Awsat also says that the Kurds are rejecting any language in the constitution that recognizes Iraq as “part of the Arab nation.” I hear Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish president, on al-Jazeera a couple of days ago, making the argument that the Iraqi state is part of the Arab nation but that the Iraqi people are multicultural and not necessarily Arabs. These Kurds who are objecting appear to have a harder line on the issue than Talabani.

Here’s how The Guardian puts it:

Articulating Iraq’s relationship to the Arab and Islamic worlds also is a sensitive issue.

“They should write that the Arabs of Iraq are part of the Arab nation,” said Othman. “Or even better, drop the whole sentence.”

Al-Mutlak called for stronger language, saying Iraq is an Arab country – despite a Kurdish minority estimated at about 15 percent to 20 percent.

Some secular-minded Iraqis fear the Shiites might demand a bigger role for religion. But politicians said there’s general agreement on stating that Islam will be “a main source of legislation.”

Also on the table is the shape of the government, with lawmakers favoring a parliamentary system.

U.S. officials have strongly urged Iraqis to honor the set deadlines, but some legislators are skeptical all the issues could be resolved on time.

Some say the thorny subjects should be left out until after the December vote. Others insist the constitution has be comprehensive and complete.

“All these issues won’t be big problems if we have the will to reach an agreement,” said al-Maliki, the Shiite lawmaker. “But if we want to look for differences, we’ll find differences.”

The assertion of being “part of the Arab nation” is nearly universal among the written constitutions in the Arab world cf. my tabular summary here but, interestingly, not completely universal. In particular the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Oman both hedge on the issue and Sudan’s constitution appears to lack the claim altogether. I’m not sure what to make of this if anything. But it’s interesting that the KSA and Sudan are both flashpoints these days.