You STILL CAN'T Make a Silk Purse Out of a Sow's Ear

Here is a small, totally under-reported story:

Three out of four Iraqis say Islam should be source of law

Three out of four Iraqis believe Islam should be the main or only source of law and legislation in their country, according to a poll of 2,700 Iraqis.

While just over 74 percent thought Islam should be the sole or main source of legislation, just 2 percent said religion should play no role in law-making, a poll showed Friday.

The findings come as parliament prepares to draft a new constitution, which will notably focus on the role of Islam, Iraq's official religion, in society.

The poll was based on some 2,705 interviews conducted from April 11 to April 20 by an Iraqi firm employed by the conservative US International Republican Institute.

Predominantly Sunni provinces of Anbar and Ninevah, where insurgents are believed to be concentrated, and Kurdish Dohuk were excluded from the poll. Respondents were drawn from Iraq's 15 other provinces.

In findings similar to a previous poll done by the democracy group, 48 percent of Iraqis continue to believe religion "has a special role to play in government", while 46 percent believe religion and government "should respect one another."

(emphasis mine)

This article tells us how difficult it will be to achieve any government based on individual rights in Iraq. It says that Iraqis will vote themselves into an Islamic state with a sharia constitution. When this happens, our every instance of progress will disappear into a void. Every drop of blood and every dollar of treasure will have been in vain.

Our government has gone forth to allow Iraq to choose its own government. Yes, we have said that we do not want an Islamic government, and we do want a democratic republic. But, in the final analysis, we will let them choose what they want for themselves.

This poll says they will go Islamic.

If they choose Islam, what will we have accomplished overall in Iraq? The tyranny of Saddam differs from the tyranny of Islam, how?

Had we the moral clarity and certainty going into Iraq if we actually really thought this was the best place to start cleaning up the Middle East, we would have forced a representative government on Iraqis, as we did to Japan. It is in the rational self-interest of America that they have a secular government, and we should be proudly selfish enough to make sure that happens. No, they might not keep it, but it would allow us to get the hell out of Iraq with a crystal clear ending.

Whatever people may regard as tragic about our entry into Iraq, they simply have not yet seen the real tragedy. An Islamic state of Iraq will make everything we have done and spent, every horrible cost we have experienced, be utterly for naught. If Iraq goes Islamic in government, it will fulfill the deep longings and dreams of America's conservatives. These conservatives chronically bellyache about the separation of state and religion in America. Islam, then, should be their ideal. Let them watch what happens when state and religion re-fuse.