this defective new constitution cannot be seen as something that is in America's long-term security interests. It is entirely too illiberal and divisive for that. And, as Matt himself noted this morning, foreign policy has to be treated substantively and not just as a matter of domestic political positioning.

The problem right now is that the present constitution seems like a recipe for civil war between Islamic theocrats representing the Shia majority and more secular Sunni previously loyal to Saddam Hussein. Rather than quelling the Sunni insurgency through the political process, it seems to be exacerbating Sunni grievances and complaints of disenfranchisement. How can that outcome possibly be in America's near or long-term security interests given the influx of foreign terrorists into Iraq and what power -- and weapons -- they might gain there should there be a civil war?

Armando at Daily Kos weighs in here. Billmon too.