THINKING FOR OURSELVES

Against Our Will

By Shea Howell

Michigan Citizen, Dec. 2-8, 2007

Early this week the White House announced a new deal with the Iraqi government to negotiate long-term relations between the two nations. Now the administration is subverting the Iraqi Constitution as well as our own.

The Declaration of Principles, signed Monday by George Bush and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, via video link up, establishes the framework for long-lasting political, economic and military relationships.

This “declaration” is an effort to provide a legal fiction for continuing occupation and exploitation of Iraqi’s natural resources. The legal fiction is necessary because the majority of the Iraqi people, including their elected parliament, do not want the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq or a continuation of the current UN mandate.

By using this “declaration,” the Bush administration hopes to circumvent the newly- established Iraqi Constitution. In moves practiced here at home, the Declaration is an effort to place the executive branch outside the control of the legislature. This time the executive is Maliki.

Ending the UN mandate is the will of the Iraqi parliament. As long ago as 2004, more than 9 out of 10 Iraqis said the U.S. forces were “occupiers,” not liberators. The UN mandate comes up for renewal in December, and the majority of the Iraqi parliament, like the majority of Iraqis and Americans, oppose its extension without a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The “Declaration” is an effort to cut out the Iraqi parliament from its Constitutional rights and responsibilities. The opposition of the parliament to Maliki’s unilateral actions is clear. In 2006 Maliki requested the renewal of the UN mandate without consulting the legislature. At that time, many lawmakers said his actions were in violation of their Constitution. Article 58, Section 4 says that the Council of Representatives has to ratify “international treaties and agreements.”

Using definitions to justify his unilateral action, as Bush has done, Malik said that the Constitution didn’t refer to the UN mandate.

To prevent this from happening again, the Iraqi parliament passed a binding resolution in June that was intended to force Maliki to go to it to seek approval for the extension of the mandate.

According to an English translation provided by the Global Policy Forum, this resolution says: "The Iraqi Cabinet (Maliki) has unilaterally requested a renewal of the UN mandate keeping the occupation troops (MNF) in Iraq" despite the fact that "such a request issued by the Iraqi cabinet without the Iraqi parliament's approval is unconstitutional." It continues: "The Iraqi parliament, as the elected representatives of the Iraqi people, has the exclusive right to approve and ratify international treaties and agreements, including those signed with the United Nations Security Council."

This effort by the Iraqi parliament to define its own future was somehow termed a “non binding resolution” in the latest report of the UN secretary General Ban Ki Moon. In addition, in a breach of protocol, this resolution, although received by the special UN Envoy. was never distributed to Security Council members,

Thus the Iraqi people and their elected representatives have been cut out of the process of deciding whether or not to continue the armed occupation.

They have also been cut out of the process of determining the development of their resources. Part of the declaration pledges Iraqis to "encouraging the flow of foreign investments to Iraq, especially American investments, to contribute to the reconstruction and rebuilding of Iraq.”

In efforts by this administration to secure empire and greed, constitutional controls on the executive branch and the will of the people are being violated here and abroad.

When will we say “Enough”?