When America’s founding fathers met for the Constitutional Convention, the people of Philadelphia spread a thick, soft dust in the streets surrounding the building in which the proceedings were taking place — so that the founders of the American republic would not be distracted by the clatter of horse shoes. The silence that followed the announcement on Friday by the Iraqi National Congress that it would convene a constitutional convention for a free Iraq, in contrast, was not one of respect. For all the gallons of ink the local, Washington and coast papers have spilled on the American war plans for Iraq and on the negotiations at the United Nations over sanctions and weapons inspections, there just doesn’t seem to be an interest in plans for a democratic transition. That the free government in exile is preparing a constitutional convention as part of its “transition to the rule of law project” has not been reported, so far as we could see, in any of the major papers.

The transitional plan made public Friday focuses on five areas: transitional law and justice, constitutional matters, reform of the judicial system, reform of the law and order structure, and reform of military-civilian relations. Each of them is developed in some detail. The section on a constitution notes that it is too early to draft a new constitution for a free Iraq. However, it stresses the importance of laying the groundwork now. That would entail holding the constitutional conference, preparing a transitional constitutional framework, articulating principles for the permanent constitution and discussing federalism, separation of powers, the role of religion in the state, and a bill of rights. Details are available at http://209.50.252.70/p_en/inc/justice.shtml. The University of Chicago-educated mathematician who is the Iraqi Madison, Ahmad Chalabi, is stressing the importance of the proceedings and warning that a failure of attention could be fatal. We hope he won’t get discouraged by the lack of interest by the press. The proceedings in Philadelphia, we’d remind him, took place in such secrecy that Washington upbraided the delegates when one of them left a scrap of paper on the floor.