Iraq's Constitution and America's Exit Strategy

2005 will be remembered as the year of the freest elections in Iraqi history. Iraqis will have gone to the polls three times by the end of this year. In January, they elected their representatives for an interim parliament, in October they voted on a constitution, and in December they are scheduled to choose a regular parliament. These events stand in sharp contrast to the experience of 35 years under Ba’thist rule, during which there were no elections at all for the first twelve years and then only sham votes for a powerless parliament or a presidential referendum that endorsed Saddam Hussein by margins of more than 99%. In this sense, Iraq has undergone a true political revolution. Nevertheless, the vote on the constitution raised questions about its timing, about the constitution’s durability in the face of possible political turmoil, and about its real impact on long-term socio-political process and the implications for the policy of the United States and its allies.