From SocialistWorker.org
GEORGE W. BUSH tried to regain some of his plummeting popularity with a speech last week hailing the administration’s supposed successes in the "war on terror"--even as a crisis looms over the constitutional referendum in Iraq.To start with, he turned to an old standby--whipping up fears of terrorism--with the stern claim that the U.S. "and our partners have disrupted at least 10 serious al-Qaeda terrorist plots" since September 11. Then he repeated the fantasy that Iraq is on the road to democracy and sovereignty, with the constitutional referendum set for October 15 the latest milestone.
Just how democratic the "new" Iraq will be was clear from the efforts of officials of the U.S.-backed regime to ram through the proposed draft.
Under the procedures established by the U.S. occupation authority, the constitution will fail if it’s rejected by a two-thirds majority in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces. But last weekend, the Iraqi parliament quietly changed the rules to be two-thirds of "registered voters"--rather than those actually casting ballots.
