Wisdom From the WSJ

The WSJ speaks sense on Iraq -- and that's a rare thing for the MSM.

What happened last week in Iraq is a remarkable achievement.

By any existing Middle East standard, the new constitution is a great achievement. It promises to protect human rights, including free speech and the right to worship. It applies the very American principle of federalism, or decentralized power, to reassure multiethnic regions and various Muslim denominations and thus keep the country together.

The majority Shiites, far from seeking to dominate other ethnic groups from Baghdad, are asking largely for the power to govern themselves. The entire country will now spend six weeks debating all of this leading up to an October referendum that will be freer and more open than the presidential election that Egypt will hold this coming weekend.
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The larger truth here is that Americans have no choice but to let Iraqis sort these basic questions out for themselves. This includes elements within the Bush Administration that still aren't comfortable with the idea that a free Iraq won't be led by someone on the CIA payroll. These officials, including some at the National Security Council, are still too close to the Sunni-led dictatorships in the region that fear the example of a Shiite-led Muslim democracy.

In this respect, President Bush's personal intervention last week with Shiite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was a mistake, encouraging further Sunni demands and fostering distrust among Shiites that the U.S. really doesn't want to leave Iraq to Iraqis. The undeniable fact is that most Shiite leaders have been remarkably restrained and responsible for three years now, especially given their historic domination by the Sunni minority. We wish Mr. Bush devoted his attention to the meddling in Iraq by the CIA's friends in Syrian intelligence, or by Iran.

For all of Iraq's security problems, the present moment is one of remarkable promise. A constitution, written in a spirit of compromise rare in the Middle East, has now been adopted by a freely elected, multiethnic, multidenominational Muslim government. This government now intends to put the constitution to a vote and--what's more amazing--abide by the result.

Four years ago, such a scenario for Iraq would have seemed improbable, to say the least. That it should now be denounced as inadequate is perhaps the best measure of how much progress a free Iraq has made.

Amen!

Read the whole thing here.