'Divided by God': One Nation, Under Whomever

By FRANKLIN FOER
Published: July 24, 2005

WHEN American officials needed a scholar to help draft a constitution for newly liberated Iraq, they turned to a young yeshiva-trained New York University law professor named Noah Feldman. This wasn't as odd as it sounds. An Arabic speaker, Feldman had just published a book, ''After Jihad,'' which argued that democracy and Islam were compatible. For months in Iraq, Feldman attempted to translate this theory into practice, trying to calm nervous ayatollahs, undermine aspiring theocrats and defuse a millennium-long sectarian blood feud.