Is the Iraqi government Islamist?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It's pretty much agreed, even the media says so at times. Yet there are still people that defend it and argue that it's still a good government. This means that there is such a good thing as a good Islamist government. How anyone who is not a Muslim can view Islamism as a good thing completely boggles my mind. I say Islamism is ALWAYS a bad thing, just like Christian theocracy. Therefore, any Islamist goverment is bad.

[phk]

I don't like political Islam, but if the Iraqis voted for the UIA (which contains such parties as the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq) they deserve what they get... West Iran.

[DanielX]

Define 'Islamist'.

Is Iraq a theocracy? No.  There is no one 'national' religious body that holds true power. In fact, even Sistani's Shiah cannot be considered a 'national' faith, as at present it would be impossible for the Shiah to effectively rule Iraq without cooperation from the Kurds, who are mostly Sunni. Compare to, say, Iran, in which Ayatollah Khameini holds most of the strings of power, and the government exists essentially at the behest of one particular Shiah sect, or the Taliban in Afghanistan, who were basically religious "Scholars" who seized power and made religion and state one.

Does the government favor Islam over other religious beliefs? Yes it does. Do some of Iraq's major political parties have affiliations with religious groups, particularly Islamic ones? Yes they do. Is this a bad thing? Generally yes, but remember that there are zero nations in the entire Middle East which have elected governments without religious affiliations of any sort (Israel, Turkey, and even India are guilty of this as well- India's BJP has strong connections with various Hindu branches).

Another food for thought: England could, if you look at it through a distorted lens, or perhaps turn back the clock a couple of hundred years, be considered a theocracy. After all, the Church of England is pretty closely wedded to the state, and I think the titular head of the Church is the Queen (although the Archbishop of Canterbury actually runs the show). Now, Iraq isn't exactly England, but it would be equally absurd to consider it a full theocracy.

[MODU]

The constitution is setup as such so it would not be an over-bearing Islamic theocracy (the Kurds would never go for it).