TPM readers have graciously not harassed me for ignoring the biggest story of the week, the new Iraqi draft constitution. I don't really have the expertise to add much value here, so let me steer you to the foreign-policy Howitzers at work over in the America Abroad section of TPM Cafe. There's an interesting sentiment here from Anne-Marie Slaughter:

I never thought I would take this position, particularly given what could be at stake for the women of Iraq, but I’m going to come down on the getting it done side. Let’s just remember, the compromises that our founding fathers made to get to a constitution – mediating between slave states and free states – included one that left slavery intact and defined each slave as worth only 3/5 of a person.

But here's some man-bites-dog opinion from the right: On Sunday National Review's Andrew McCarthy, who has written some thoughtfully provocative things about the war on terror, responded to press reports about the constitution's Islamic core with the appalled declaration, "This is where I get off the bus... I am as certain as I am that I am breathing that the American people would not put their brave young men and women in harm’s way for the purpose of establishing an Islamic government. Anyplace."

After some browbeating by his colleagues McCarthy qualified that opinion until he could learn more firsthand; it'll be interesting to see where he comes down now that the deal is done.

P.S. Also don't miss this thorough - and despairing - evaluation by my TNR colleague Spencer Ackerman, who knows Iraq policy like Yngwie Malmsteen knows guitar scales. Spencer warns that Iraq may now be headed "into the abyss." <$NoAd$> Shudder.