Courtesy of
Balkinization, an interesting observation from Texas law professor Sandy Levinson about Article 38 of the
Iraqi Constitution: it prohibits the kind of government spying that Bush claims as part of his "inherent authority" as Commander-in-Chief.
The freedom of communication, and mail, telegraphic, electronic, and telephonic correspondence, and other correspondence shall be guaranteed and may not be monitored, wiretapped or disclosed except for legal and security necessity and by a judicial decision.
The fact that the Iraqi constitution preserves more liberty for the Iraqi people than pResident Bush seems to think the U.S. Constitution preserves for its citizens is something I found puzzling, and I can't really think of a good explanation.
Maybe the members of U.S.-backed interim Iraqi government (who drafted the Iraqi constitution) believed that the new Iraqi government simply doesn't have the same need for a flexible approach in fighting the war on terror that the U.S. does. Then again, the courts in Iraq might just be more efficient than the outmoded (it's from
1978!) FISA court. Perhaps the protection of privacy rights is simply an oversight.
On the other hand, the inclusion of robust privacy rights to one's communications was seen as a necessary extra chit of "freedom" in light of the U.S.'s decision to reinstate a vigorous campaign of torture in Iraq. Or maybe the Iraqis just deserve more freedom. After all, Bush described their desire for freedom:
They went to the polls, said, give us a chance to vote, and we will, and they did. In other words, they have made their intentions known that they want to have a free society.
Americans, on the other hand, went to the polls and (by a slim majority) said: Fuck freedom! We don't care much about that crap, especially when there's terra-ists lurking around every corner. Sure, we might be fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here, but we all know terra-ists are crafty. Heck, they're probably trying to sneak the WMD they smuggled out of Iraq into the U.S. right now!!
For those of us who wouldn't sacrifice our liberty for the false impression of temporary security, maybe we should consult with the drafters of the Iraqi Constitution to figure out how we can better protect our rights.