From Riverbend
The Referendum...Most educated Iraqis want to vote against the constitution. This makes the fact that Iraqis abroad aren't being allowed to vote this time around worrisome. Why was it vital for them to vote for a temporary government back in January but it's not necessary for them to contribute to this referendum which will presumably decide a permanent constitution for generations and generations of Iraqis? Could it be that the current Iranian inclined government knew that many Iraqis abroad didn’t like the constitution because of federalism, women's rights, and the mention of no laws to be placed which contradict Islam?... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...
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.
