Uh... sorry about that!

Nothing about the Iraqi constition is going quite as imagined in the fluffy clouds of the Bush Administration, but the worst of it is going to be had by the country's women, who are finding their secular state reverting to an opporessive theocracy. This political cartoon from the Sunday paper really made me come to a full stop, as only a pithy image can. Ouch.

Anyway, Medley is a bit disconsolate over the whole situation, and she points the way along to Jeanne, Bilmon, and Digby each singing different parts of a similar tune. The pithiest take may come from Reuters:

U.S. diplomats, who have insisted the constitution must enshrine ideals of equal rights and democracy, declined comment.

Our emissary seems to be one of the advocates for more religious grounding, which is shocking and dismaying, given what we've sacrificed to get to this point and the result that we claimed to want. However, Billmon makes this insightful remark:

Actually, if it staves off civil war long enough for the Pentagon to withdraw the bulk of the troops from Iraq, then I'd say it's precisely what the American people want.

No political considerations here, nossir! It's all about the deeper principles (which we water down until they fit the current circumstances)...

Update: wow, taking the watering-down thing to heights of artistic insight -- this cheetos of freedom metaphor.

Update 2: in a less humerous vein, Obsidian Wings demonstrates how bad things are already . . .