10 Days to the Referendum

     10 Days are left to the referendum of the constitution. The Iraqi street is in tense because of it. There are checkpoints at every main street in Baghdad now. In some areas, there are fortified checkpoints, and even tanks sometimes. These are the areas that are so violent they switch sides between the Americans and the insurgents overnight. For the third day in a row, I have not been outside the house, I could hear the sounds of shots every few hours on the nearest main street to our house. There was an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint there, and they were being attacked more than once a day.

     Recently the government has made some changes to the rules that define the acceptance of the constitution. The change went like this: "Under the new rules, the constitution will fail only if two-thirds of all registered voters reject it in at least three of the 18 provinces.". The term registered voters mean the people who register for vote, but doesn't strictly mean they actually voted. It is just a name on a list. Which technically means if you don't vote, it is a yes. But the UN was supervising the referendum, and I think they applied pressure on the government to change it back. It is obvious that the change was supposed to give the referendum more chances of being accepted. But such step would destroy the concept of Democracy.

     The good news is, the university has postponed the seminars until after the referendum. Which means me staying home for another two weeks. R&R for me. Anyway, I got out today, finally. I went down the street, bought some "Zenod Al-Set". Which are some famous Iraqi desert. It is a tradition to eat them when the fasting end each day. I took some photos of them with my cell, but I a friend of mine took the Bluetooth device for a couple of days. So I will post them as soon as I get it back. I always use my cell for the photographing because it is a lot easier to copy the pictures to the computer with a Bluetooth device, than plugging the camera with the computer, wires and all.

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