But...There's a Constitution!...

Or, at least there will be, according to a red banner atop CNN's website. However, judging from this article, there's at least one city--and several more like it--that will dismiss ANY constitution as a mere scrap of paper. And, guess what? There ain't a damn thing we can do about it:

A three-hour drive north from Baghdad, under the nose of an American base, it is a miniature Taliban-like state. Insurgents decide who lives and dies, which salaries get paid, what people wear, what they watch and listen to.

Haditha exposes the limitations of the Iraqi state and US power on the day when the political process is supposed to make a great leap - a draft constitution finalised and approved by midnight tonight.

For politicians and diplomats in Baghdad's fortified green zone the constitution is a means to stabilise Iraq and woo Sunni Arabs away from the rebellion. For Haditha, 140 miles north-west of the capital, whether a draft is agreed is irrelevant. Residents already have a set of laws and rules promulgated by insurgents.

Some of the "laws" promulgated by the insurgent mix of Ansar al-Sunna and Tawhid al-Jihad must have Team Bush literally oozing with envy: morning executions at the Haqlania bridge (the town entrance), floggings, breaking of arms--you know, the standard fundie stuff (fundie as in "fundamentalist wingnut")--why, it's a veritable cornucopia of Old Testamentism--or at least those elements of Old Testament that share common ground with nutjob interpretation Koranic equivalents.

US forces have periodically swept the area; however, insurgents simply disappear until they inevitably leave. And Haditha isn't the only town under their control--other towns in Anbar province with a significant if not dominant insurgent presence are Qaim, Rawa, Anna and Ramadi.

The article goes on to note that the operative tactic right now is to simply wait the US out--while establishing a certain sense of, um, order, as brutal as it is. Sadly, the article notes that children seem to enjoy the vicious spectacle of public punishments, including beheadings, that not only are carried out in public, but are also avaiable on DVD (the story also suggests that city residents tolerate this sort of monopoly of violence because they find it preferable to violent chaos--and perhaps also because, also unlike the rest of Iraq, electricity is available 24 hours a day).

Haditha is, in a manner of speaking, the fruit of Team Bush's, um, I was going to say labor in Iraq, though I don't actually see Shrubya doing any heavy lifting...anyway, you know what I mean.

Hat tip to Rising Hegemon for the link.