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87 Tex. L. Rev. 1627 (2008-2009)
A Constitution without Constitutionalism: Reflections on Irag's Failed Constitutional Process

handle is hein.journals/tlr87 and id is 1645 raw text is: A Constitution Without Constitutionalism:
Reflections on Iraq's Failed Constitutional Process
Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi*
I.   Introduction
Theoretical physicists hypothesize a sum over histories, a concept
having its roots in the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the Schrrdinger
equation postulated in quantum mechanics.' The idea is that there are uni-
verses parallel to the one we inhabit where, for example, the French
Revolution did not occur and the Bourbon kings continue to rule to this day
in an unbroken chain.2 Moreover, there is an infinite number of parallel uni-
verses whereby the infinite chains of possible permutations relating to French
history since July 14, 1789 (and, for that matter, before) have played them-
selves out.3   In this multiverse of infinite possibilities, the 2003 military
intervention by the United States in Iraq was accomplished competently. A
constitutional process unfolded a decade or so later; one in which Iraqis of all
political and ethnoconfessional persuasions participated. Wise leadership
prevailed, and compromises were struck that caused the efflorescence of na-
tional cohesion and harmony. The result has been a peaceful and fecund
Iraq.
Regrettably, in our universe, virtually everything that could go wrong
did so. Far from engendering national cohesion, the constitutional process
* Visiting Professor of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of Law-Bloomington;
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Deputy Permanent Representative of Iraq to the
United Nations.  B.A. (Chem.), J.D. (Indiana University-Bloomington); LL.M., S.J.D.
(Northwestern University School of Law). Ambassador al-Istrabadi, who is currently on leave from
his post at the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was the principal legal drafter of Iraq's interim
constitution in 2003 to 2004. The views expressed herein are his own and do not necessarily
represent those of the Government of Iraq. An early version of this Article was given as a talk to
the faculty of the Maurer School on April 5, 2007. The author is grateful to Professor David C.
Williams for many kindnesses, one of which is allowing the title of this Article to play off the title
of his own, which came first. David C. Williams, Constitutionalism Before Constitutions: Burma's
Struggle to Build a New Order, 87 TEXAS L. REV. 1657 (2009).
1. See STEPHEN W. HAWKING, BLACK HOLES AND BABY UNIVERSES AND OTHER ESSAYS 78-
79 (1993) (discussing the creation of the concept of a sum over histories to solve the problems
with quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle that troubled Einstein). The hypothesis was
first elucidated by the late Nobel laureate in physics, Richard Feynman. ld at 79.
2. See, e.g., MICHIO KAKU, PARALLEL WORLDS: A JOURNEY THROUGH CREATION, HIGHER
DIMENSIONS, AND THE FUTURE OF THE COSMOS 168 (2005) ([A]t each quantum juncture, the
universe splits in half, in a never-ending sequence of splitting universes. All universes are possible
in this scenario, each as real as the other.).
3. Physicist Frank Wilczek also describes this principle by discussing many worlds in which
Helen of Troy was not a captivating beauty and instead had an ugly wart on her nose. Id. at 169
(quoting Frank Wilczek). In each of these universes, presumably Paris would not have abducted
Helen and the Trojan War would not have occurred. Id.

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