Iraq Watch: October 13, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Voting on Iraq's draft constitution has finally begun with Iraqi detainees, of all people, getting things started.
At least 18,000 unprosecuted inmates at some 17 detention facilities throughout Iraq, including the notorious Abu Ghraib, began the voting process early on Thursday.
Official voting in the national referndum gets under way on Saturday although the four-day national holiday surrounding the vote began today along with the implementation of extra security measures.
Temporary blast walls and razor wire were installed at some polling places and civilian vehicles were banned in cities and towns throughout the war-torn nation in an effort to deter anticipated insurgent attacks.
The draft charter's chances of passing increased greatly late last night with word of the compromise agreed upon by Iraqi lawmakers.
Sunni groups appear to be split on the constitution and the newly added ammendments aimed at appeasing them. Although most Sunni groups announced they would still push for a "no" vote on the charter, at least one moderate Sunni group, the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), reversed their earlier stance and advised their followers to vote in support of the draft constitution when they went to the polls.
The draft constitution would be rejected or nullified if a simple two-thirds of voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces voted against it. Although the previously impowered Sunni's are an overall minority - forming only about 20 percent of the nations total population - they are the majority sect in at least four of the governorates.
Sunni's largely boycoted the January 30 elections leaving them with only 17 lawmakers in Iraq's 275-member parliament.
In violence on Thursday, two Iraqi policemen were killed in a car bombing in the northern city of Kirkuk while two Iraqi civilians died in a separate roadside bombing in Mosul, also north of the capital.
Elsewhere, the secretary general of the Independent Turkmen Movement, Kana'an Shakir, was kidnapped along with Hashim Ali, an official in the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) and nine of their bodyguards late Wednesday night south of Kirkuk near Udaim.
Also, the U.S. military announced the death of a U.S. soldier who was killed Thursday by an IED while on a combat patrol near Ad Dujayl.
At least 18,000 unprosecuted inmates at some 17 detention facilities throughout Iraq, including the notorious Abu Ghraib, began the voting process early on Thursday.
Official voting in the national referndum gets under way on Saturday although the four-day national holiday surrounding the vote began today along with the implementation of extra security measures.
Temporary blast walls and razor wire were installed at some polling places and civilian vehicles were banned in cities and towns throughout the war-torn nation in an effort to deter anticipated insurgent attacks.
The draft charter's chances of passing increased greatly late last night with word of the compromise agreed upon by Iraqi lawmakers.
Sunni groups appear to be split on the constitution and the newly added ammendments aimed at appeasing them. Although most Sunni groups announced they would still push for a "no" vote on the charter, at least one moderate Sunni group, the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), reversed their earlier stance and advised their followers to vote in support of the draft constitution when they went to the polls.
The draft constitution would be rejected or nullified if a simple two-thirds of voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces voted against it. Although the previously impowered Sunni's are an overall minority - forming only about 20 percent of the nations total population - they are the majority sect in at least four of the governorates.
Sunni's largely boycoted the January 30 elections leaving them with only 17 lawmakers in Iraq's 275-member parliament.
In violence on Thursday, two Iraqi policemen were killed in a car bombing in the northern city of Kirkuk while two Iraqi civilians died in a separate roadside bombing in Mosul, also north of the capital.
Elsewhere, the secretary general of the Independent Turkmen Movement, Kana'an Shakir, was kidnapped along with Hashim Ali, an official in the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) and nine of their bodyguards late Wednesday night south of Kirkuk near Udaim.
Also, the U.S. military announced the death of a U.S. soldier who was killed Thursday by an IED while on a combat patrol near Ad Dujayl.
posted by Todd @ 10:29 PM
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