Iraqis will soon embark on the process of writing a new constitution, and none too soon, given that the establishment of a democracy to which other Arab nations will be able to look for an example was part of the rationale for the Allied intervention. Without some leadership from America, however, the constitution of free Iraq could contain some less-than-savory features, including a lack of commitment to religious freedom. This is underscored by a dispatch on page one today by our Adam Daifallah. The American regent, L. Paul Bremer, seems content to stay far away from the constitution writing process, satisfied to wait and see what happens. But this is no time for a “What, me worry?” approach.

Three guidelines are important for a classical democracy in Iraq: a commitment to equality for all citizens, both men and women; the right to practice openly and freely the religion of one’s choice so that non-Muslims won’t fear being treated as second-class citizens; and a separation of mosque and state. The best way to achieve this goal would be for proven freedom-loving Iraqis to lead in the writing of the document. Washington isn’t picking the constitution-writing group. But given the maneuvering before the war, it would not be surprising to see an argument emerge that those who have suffered for three decades under the Baathist tyranny should have a superior say in the process, as if Iraqis who have lived inside Iraq for the past 35 years are better versed in the tenets of liberal democracy than those who’ve spent time in liberal democracies like America and Britain.

One expert who was involved in the Afghan constitution, Nina Shea of Freedom House, has expressed her concerns to Mr. Bremer directly, our Mr. Daifallah reports. She is concerned over protecting the idea of dissent. In the case of Iraq, there is an obvious candidate to take a leading role in constitution-writing, Kanan Makiya, a professor at Brandeis University and a champion of liberal democratic values for Iraq. Mr. Makiya, author of “Republic of Fear,” the definitive work on the Baathist rule over Iraq, would be an excellent choice to head up this process. He is close to the Iraqi National Congress, which is filled with intellectuals who comprehend the Madisonian and Jeffersonian structures — and which, not so incidentally, played a role in convincing the U.S. Congress to pass the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the act that made regime change formal American policy as a matter of law.

There is no reason to expect that anyone is going to be able to plant in Iraq a full-grown democracy overnight. America’s own evolution as a constitutional democracy did not happen suddenly. The Articles of Confederation brought America to what Hamilton called a “national humiliation” before the American founders gathered for their sacred sitting at Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, some 11 years after independence was declared. Improving the Constitution, advancing its interpretation, has been the work of centuries. But America and the free Iraqis did not fight a war in Iraq so that another Islamic republic could be established in the Middle East, and the writing of a constitution is as important as any item on the Iraqi or American agenda.