Iraqis urged to defy insurgents and vote in referendum
The Iraqi government today urged people to vote in next week’s constitutional referendum, condemning insurgent groups for demanding a boycott and for killing civilians in an effort to wreck the ballot.
“These insurgents are like rats spreading plague among the people,” said Laith Kuba, the main Iraqi government spokesman. “Rats are very small, but the disease they spread is horrible. Iraq should bet rid of these dirty rats,” he said at a news conference in Baghdad.
Kuba said a successful boycott would weaken Iraq and delay its efforts to rebuild, and that "the killing of innocent civilians is now the nation’s No. 1 challenge".
Sunni-led insurgent groups are trying to reduce turnout in the referendum with a wave of attacks, and at least 307 people have died in the last two weeks in suicide bombings, roadside bombs, drive-by shootings and the assassination of people who had been kidnapped.
That death toll includes two US soldiers who were killed yesterday in fighting in western Iraq, which brought to eight the number of American fatalities in a series of offensives the military has launched to put down militants before the October 15 vote, especially in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, the heartland of the insurgency.
The Iraqi and US governments are working hard to get the constitution approved, but Kuba said even minority Sunnis who oppose the draft document should benefit from Iraq’s democratic reforms by going to polling stations and voting "no".
Minority Sunni Arabs are gearing up their campaign to defeat the measure at the polls. The referendum has divided Iraqis, with leaders of the Shiite Muslim majority and Kurds supporting the constitution and Sunni Arabs opposing it, saying it will fragment Iraq.
Sunnis can defeat the charter if they garner a two-thirds “no” vote in any three of Iraq’s 18 provinces. The Sunnis have a majority in four provinces.
Iraqi officials have begun distributing 5 million copies of the constitution to the public ahead of the vote, often leaving them at small shops in cities and towns that act as ration centres where most Iraqis get government-subsidised food.
But some shops were refusing to participate, fearing attacks by insurgents.
In Baqouba, a city 35 miles north-east of Baghdad, police and soldiers began distributing thousands of copies of the constitution at schools and bus stations today, said official Hafiz Abdel-Aziz. “We decided not to distribute them through food ration agents for security reasons,” he said.
Iraq yesterday announced a curfew, weapons ban, border closings and other security measures to clamp down ahead of the referendum and to prevent insurgent attacks.
On Thursday – two days ahead of next week’s vote – a nationwide night-time curfew will begin and nobody will be able to carry weapons in public, even if they are licensed, the government said. On Friday evening, police will bar travel between provinces. International borders, airports and ports also will be closed.
In southern Iraq today a suicide car bomb killed two people and wounded three in the city of Basra, police said. It exploded outside a building used by the Iranian-backed Badr Brigade, a Shiite militia linked to one of the main parties in the Iraqi government.
