“Our position is clear. It can't be law until I sign it,” Bremer (AFP)

KARBALA, Iraq, February 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Washington’s top man in Iraq Paul Bremer said Monday, February 16, he will not allow Islam to be the main source of law in Iraq, warning that he could veto the country's temporary constitution if it did not fit the “American vision“ of democracy.

Behind a masquerade of advocating women rights in Iraq, Bremer Seized the opportunity of the inauguration ceremony of a women's center in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala and said he would wield his veto if the interim Governing Council made Shari’ah (Islamic law) at the heart of the new constitution.

"Our position is clear, and the text that is in there now is as I say. It can't become law until I sign it," Bremer said according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Bremer, who escaped an assassination attempt last year, said that Shari’ah, however, could be a “source of inspiration” for the new constitution but not the main source, the Associated Press quoted Bremer as saying.

Bremer must sign into law all measures passed by the U.S.-handpicked 25-member council, including the interim constitution.

Under U.S. plans, a permanent constitution would not be drawn up and voted on until 2005.

Mohsen Abdel Hamid, the current president of the Iraqi interim council and a member of a committee drafting the interim constitution, has proposed making Shari’ah the “principal basis” of legislation.

In December 2003, the council passed a decision abolishing the 1959 personal status law, which granted same rights to husband and wife to divorce and inheritance, according to Aljazeera. 

Last April, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ruled out an Iran-style religious government in Iraq.

U.S. Senators had also voiced misgivings about the possibility of setting up an Islamic regime in post-Saddam Iraq.

Women’s Rights

Turning to women’s rights in Iraq, Bremer said women should be represented in Iraq’s political landscape

“Women are the majority in this country, in this area probably a substantial majority,” he said.

Bremer also referred to the mass graves across the county under the era of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's, which left thousands of widows.

Bremer’s statements came after U.S. lawmakers have urged the White House to prevent “Islamic restrictions” on Iraqi women.

In December 2003, Iraqi women hit out at the U.S. occupation of their country on American soil, speaking about the miseries and sufferings of their people.

They toured six major U.S. cities, including Washington D.C., New York to make the American people posted on the hardships their people suffer under the U.S.-led occupation.

In Islam, women are recognized as a full and equal partner of men and in no way inferior to them.