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Democracy takes several different forms throughout the world. The U.S.A. is a Federal Republic, for example. Our friends in the United Kingdom are a Constitutional Monarchy. Looking North, Canada is a constitutional monarchy that is also a parliamentary democracy and a federation.
If our closest Democratic allies operate so differently from us, it shouldn't be a shocker to find that a culture as different from us as Iraq is just may not have been cut out to thrive under the exact same governmental structure as the USA. Perhaps instead of trying to recreate them in our own image, we could offer the people of Iraq the option of revisiting the Constitutional Monarchy that they once enjoyed in relative peace and prosperity. Few Americans may realize that Iraq already had a legitimate constitution in place since the early 1920s when Iraq was formed (yes, Sadaam Hussein broke virtually all the laws in it). There is even a rightful heir to the throne as defined by that constitution. Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid was in London at school the day that virtually all his extended family (men, women, and children) were slaughtered in a bloody coup -- some of them then reportedly dragged through the streets.
Further evidence of my emerging theory that every new day dawns an apocalypse for someone. But I digress.
Many years passed, and when Prince Ra'ad's father died in the 70s, Ra'ad inherited his claim to the Iraqi throne from him, as his only son. He has spent most of his adult life in service of King Hussein of Jordan, and is now Chamberlain to the Royal Court of Abdullah II. I had the opportunity to meet Prince Ra'ad some twenty years ago when I went to Jordan for a year as a student volunteer. At that time, he spent his considerable talents and enthusiasm advancing the cause of the physically handicapped. One day, we students were playing volleyball at the Sports Federation building that he built and ran for the handicapped and he joined us.
Well, maybe that sort of thing happens to YOU every day, but it was a new one on me! Needless to say, it made an impression; and noone since that time has ever seemed larger than life to me. I subscribe to the theory of "pretty is as pretty does".
He became a somewhat regular fixture at our weekly volleyball games, plus we saw him at many other events promoting the physically handicapped throughout the year, and even had the opportunity to visit his home. It was quite a normal house, by American standards; nice but certainly lived-in. I think he still had children at home at the time, and from the stories, I extrapolated that they were quite normal. We all know what homeschool moms mean when they say "normal children".
Prince Ra'ad is married to a lovely Swedish lady named Princess Majda. She founded and runs the Al-Hussein Society for the Physically Handicapped. I don't know how hands-on she is nowadays, but when I was there, she was often spotted mopping the floor of the entry hall and taking care of a thousand other mundane things, without regard for her royal status.
In this photo, Princess Majda stands between Prince Ra'ad and Queen Noor. And if "pretty is as pretty does", both of these ladies should be Mrs. Universe! If you just picked out what they've done to improve the lives of children with disabilities, it would still be a list a mile long.
In short, the powers that be could do much worse than to encourage a Constitutional Monarchy that would include Prince Ra'ad and Princess Majda.
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