The New York Times has a translated copy of the new draft Iraqi Constitution. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but so far it looks pretty good.
HT to Power Line.
UPDATE: Earlier I mentioned the initial draft. A reader was kind enough to point out a few mistakes in my timeline for our own Constitution:
While I agree with your statement that the media is overly critical of the speed with which the Iraqis are proceeding with the drafting of their constitution, I do have have some nits to pick with your timeline of our own Constitution. Being a history major you should know that while 5 years did pass between the end of the Revolutionary War and the final draft of the Constitution, not all that time was spent in the drafting. Actually only 116 days were taken to draft our constitution starting May 25, 1787 and ending Sept 17, 1787. I believe the Iraqis started in March and are just wrapping up the final draft for about 150 days, not much longer than it took us.
Your statement that the Constituion was accepted in 1787 is wrong if you mean ratified. The Constitution was ratified June 21, 1788 with the ninth state New Hampshire ratifying. Virginia followed closely with it's ratification coming on June 25, 1788. Congress announced that the Constitution had been ratified on July 2, 1788, 12 years to the day that they had passed the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution took effect on March 4, 1789.
He added a few more tidbits:
I don't know if you heard Bush's remarks concerning the Iraqi Constitutional process. I found a transcript of it at http://www.blogsforbush.com/mt/archives/005203.html under"Bush to Make Remarks on Hurricane Katrina and The Iraq Constitution" on 8/28/05. My jaw hit the floor when I heard Bush say, "I want our folks to remember our own constitution was not unanimously received. Some delegates at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 refused to sign it, and the draft was vigorously debated in every state, and the outcome was not assured until all the votes were counted." Glad to hear the Prez state proper historical fact.
I'm always reading and hearing that there were 55 signatories to the Constitution, but if you count them there are only 39. Rhode Island didn't even attend and was the last state to ratify. Non-signatories included George Mason,"Father of the Bill of Rights" and author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, Elbridge Gerry, one of Madison's vps, and Edmund Randolph, 1st Attorney General and 2nd Secretary of State.
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