Hope Amid Iraq’s Rubble

Dreadful scenes of blood-spattered mosques and dead and wounded worshipers in Karbala and Baghdad on Tuesday should not overshadow the remarkable document produced a day earlier: an interim constitution giving Iraqis more freedom than others in the Arab world.

The constitution -- intended to take effect June 30, when the U.S. is expected to turn over political authority -- specifies freedom of assembly, expression and religious belief. Those are hallmarks of a democracy; if they and other provisions are implemented -- a big “if” -- Iraq can be a beacon for other countries in the Middle East and beyond.

Iraqis and Muslim pilgrims from other countries, especially next-door Iran, already have taken advantage of freedoms unknown under the rule of Saddam Hussein. That includes criticizing the government rather than keeping quiet. It also includes pilgrimages to Shiite ceremonies like those during the holy period of Ashura, when the devout read the Koran, hoist spiritual banners and chant religious slogans to commemorate the death of a grandson of the prophet Muhammad. Suicide bombers who detonated explosives simultaneously chose the Ashura ceremonies for maximum effect and killed more than 140 people.

To their credit, Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish members of the Iraqi Governing Council pleaded for calm after the attacks. Most Iraqis blamed the devastation on extremists from the Sunni branch of Islam, perhaps members of Al Qaeda hoping to instigate a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites. The bombings also drove another wedge between the United States and Iraqis. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country’s most influential cleric, blamed U.S.-led occupation forces for not preventing terrorists from entering Iraq.

Sistani has tempered his criticism of the occupation with a willingness to have elections delayed. The interim constitution envisions balloting for a transitional legislature by next January, and an eventual permanent constitution. Although the U.S.-appointed Governing Council agreed to just a target rather than a strict quota for the number of women in the legislature, and the goal was cut to 25% from the 40% originally proposed, fulfillment would give women more political power than anywhere else in the region.

The Kurds made valuable compromises on how much autonomy they will retain and provided a good foundation for the give and take required by successful democracies. The difficult tasks of choosing a government after the U.S. yields authority and dismantling various groups’ militias could pose problems, especially against a backdrop of more violence. But the interim constitution deserves the accolades that Governing Council members heaped on it. In spite of those who would blow up places of worship to stop progress, the interim constitution can be a blueprint for a free Iraq.