Iran Needs a Magna Carta

It sounds as though Robert Fisk is doing some really fascinating and brave reporting from inside Iran, but something from this Radio National interview raised an eyebrow:

We've got another great demonstration by the opposition tomorrow evening in the centre of the city. I suspect what they're going to have to do is think whether they can have a system where they reintroduce a prime ministership, so the president has someone underneath him.

Maybe we'd have President Ahmadinejad and a Prime Minister Mousavi or maybe a joint presidency.

All this is what people talk about but it means changing the constitution, it means having a referendum. They didn't believe that the opposition could be so strong and would keep on going.

This strikes me as a very bad idea. The very last thing Iran needs is yet another power source within the regime off which the Supreme Leader can play and leverage his rivals. Part of the problem in Iran is that there are far too many bureaucracies, far too many councils, and far too many delineations of authority. When someone's authority is challenged in Iran they don't clarify it, they create another body to mediate it.

Not happy with the caliber of candidates you have in parliament? Let the Guardian Council handle it! Is your parliament not getting along with your Guardian Council? We have the answer: an Expediency Council! Is your Supreme Leader mucking up the Guardian Council? No problem, call the Assembly of Experts!

And it gets worse than this, believe me.

As I mentioned yesterday, I think talk of revolution in Iran is somewhat premature. If it comes to violence, I don't think the demonstrators can hold. But even if Khamenei were to yield, then what? Mousavi becomes president? So what? The country will remain ripe for exploitation until there's substantive constitutional reform there. Arguably the most functional organization in the country is the IRGC, and that's because they have the guns.

Iran doesn't need to toss out the baby, they just need to clean up the bathwater - they could really use their own Magna Carta. Movements built around identities can be easy for mobilization purposes, but in many ways it's like rearranging the proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic. I think a constitutionalists movement - akin to the one the country saw in 1906 - would be far more impressive than getting Mir Hossein Mousavi elected to a quasi-functional office.

How about this for a hypothetical:

-- Force the Supreme Leader to sign away certain powers, and clearly enumerate the powers he does have. Reaffirm him as the symbolic figurehead of the Islamic Republic, and the "protector" of the revolution - like a monarch. Let him maintain the ability to make certain appointments, such as the Expediency Council, but make them pass the muster of parliamentary approval.

-- Dissolve the Guardian Council, and have the Expediency Council assume their duties. Put their budget and resources under strict control of the Majlis (parliament). Speaking of which, merge the Assembly of Experts - already an elected body - with the Majlis, forming an upper and lower house of parliament. Let the Assembly maintain its present duties, but add to those the approval of all the Supreme Leader's governmental appointments.

-- Dissolve the presidency, and create a singly-elected executive in the prime minister. Grant the Supreme Leader the kind of authority often bestowed upon presidential figureheads and monarchs, and give him the discretion to call for national elections.

Or something like that. Any other suggestions?