Acidus wrote:

Article (36): The state guarantees, as long as it does not violate public order and morality:

Morality is left underdined in the Constitution. Persumedly it is left to Islamic law to define morality.

Technically, these two exceptions exist in U.S. law as well, despite the fact that they aren't spelled out in the Constitution. You can be charged inciting a riot (public order) or with obsenity (immoral speech). Of course, violating the public order could easily be defined as criticising official policy. The actual application of these things will be defined over time by the government and the courts. The liberal stance of the Supreme Court in the 60s and 70s is really what allows people in America to say things like "fuck the government" without going to prison. A different time and place would (and did) offer different results from the same law. The nature of Iraq will be defined by Iraqis.... with one huge gapping problem:

The Supreme Federal Court will be made up of a number of judges and experts in Sharia (Islamic Law) and law

I don't think you can have a democracy with an establishment of religion. If the law is the law of god, then to question it is heresy. If you cannot question the law you cannot decide whether or not you agree with it, and you cannot express choices at a ballot box that you are not allowed to make. Maybe it will appear to work in the beginning, as some laws are questioned and others are not. However, over time, the religion will take hold, as in such a state religious justifications for actions are much easier to formulate then political and pragmatic ones, and once reached, nearly impossible to defeat. Theism is the path of least resistance, for both the courts and the government. Eventually the state will resemble nothing we could call democracy.

Of course, I used to think that totalitarianism was incompatible with capitalism. I was wrong. See Singapore...

In many ways Iraq represents exactly the sort of state Conservative Christians in America would like to build. If it is successful, even for a time, look for it to be held up not just as a model for the middle east, but as a model for us as well...

RE: Text of the draft Iraqi Constitution