Riverbend - The Referendum in Iraq

[realFedUp]

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

Saturday, October 15, 2005

The Referendum...

So the referendum is tomorrow- well, technically speaking, today.

We’ve been having more than the usual power outages. Government officials were saying ‘power problems’, ‘overload’, etc. for the last two days and then suddenly changed their minds today and claimed it was ‘sabotage’. It’s difficult to tell. All we know is that large parts of Baghdad are literally in the dark. We’re currently on generator electricity. Water has been cut off for the last two days with the exception of an occasional dribble that lasts for ten to fifteen minutes from a faucet in the garden. We have a nice big pot under it to catch as much water as possible.

Private cars haven’t been allowed to drive in the streets since Thursday- this will last until Sunday. It’s been declared a ‘holiday’ of sorts. Everyone is at home. In spite of these security measures, there were several explosions today.

The referendum promises to be somewhat confusing. People are saying it should be postponed. Now is not the right time. More changes were made a few days ago to the supposed ‘final’ draft of the constitution- the one that was submitted to the UN. It was allegedly done to appease Sunnis.

The trouble is that it didn’t address the actual problems Iraqis have with the constitution (Sunnis and Shia alike). The focus of negotiations by ‘Sunni representatives’ seemed to revolve around Iraq’s Arab identity and de-Ba’athification. A clause has also been added which says that the constitution will be subject to change (quelle surprise! Yet again!) with the new government after the next elections. That doesn’t make me feel better because changes can work both ways: if the next ‘elected’ government is, again, non-secular, pro-Iran, the amendments made to what is supposed to be a permanent constitution will be appalling.

continued

[davhill]

1. Riverbend is the only news I trust

It is the only information from Iraq that ever has the ring of truth and common sense about it.

[realFedUp]

2. I do like the perspective from an Iraqi citizen

and I trust Juan Cole also.

[zanne]

3. Once I started reading, it was hard to stop.

It's so personal, so real and so well-written that it's captivating. I loved her description of her neighbor cutting branches off the "cursed" tree. I just found my favorite blog.

[daydreamer]

4. The question is

how many Iraqis have actually read the paper.

[realFedUp]

5. as papers note this morning...not many

like voting more for the idea of a Constitution
without reading the fine print...similar to
the way Bush Inc. has sold everything else during
it's term.