COLLINS LEADS BI-PARTISAN PUSH TO ENSURE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN IRAQ

WASHINGTON, DC -- Senators Susan Collins and Rick Santorum (R-PA) have spearheaded a letter sent to President Bush encouraging him to stand firmly behind efforts to establish individual and equal rights for all Iraqis, particularly the right to religious freedom. The letter requested that the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq insist that these principles are included in the Basic Law that will serve as the framework for the country's new constitution.

"It is our understanding that the Basic Law will support freedom of thought, of conscience, of religious belief and practice. This is positive for the people of Iraq and is fully consistent with your policy," wrote Senators Collins and Santorum to President Bush. "We have heard, however, that the Governing Council is considering supporting including the sentence, ‘Islam is the source of legislation.' That would undermine your policy, would undermine the intent of the freedom clauses in the Basic Law, and would lead to the imposition of Sharia law."

Sharia law in principle and practice is based solely on interpretations of Islamic religious tenets. In the hands of religious extremists, Sharia could become a mechanism for subjecting an entire population to a strict religious code in all areas of life. The Senators believe the CPA should instead support proposed language for the new Iraqi constitution that would state that, "Islam is a principal among others." They cited several examples in Iraq in which religious freedoms were violated as part of governing practice, including the following:

· Dr. Khidir Abbas, the Health Minister and a member of the fundamentalist Da'wa Party, requires all doctors and applicants for jobs controlled by his ministry to declare themselves either Sunni or Shi'a. Sunnis and secular Iraqis have been purged from health ministry posts and Da'wa members get favorable treatment.

· The Governing Council has four times proposed a nationality law that would restore citizenship to those stripped of it by Saddam's regime - except Jews.

"These examples should not represent the ‘new Iraq' for which we have fought," said Senators Collins and Santorum. "We should intervene and when necessary firmly establish the concepts of individual and equal rights for all. (President Bush has) our full support, and we stand ready to help in any way to accomplish historic success in Iraq."

Ten other Senators joined Collins and Santorum in supporting President Bush's efforts to establish constitutional protections for individual liberties and equality: Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Norm Coleman (R-MO), John Cornyn (R-TX), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), John Sununu (R-NH), and George Voinovich (R-OH).