Sunni Day real estate - or why the Sunni's wanna kick one of the 'I's from Shiite
Meanwhile back in Iraq..
There's this constitutional referendum on October 15th where the Iraqis can either ratify the new constitution or ask their leaders to start over. If 2/3rds of the voters of three districts (out of 18) dis-approve the constitution, then the deal goes south, and the Jefferson wanna-bes get to start again.
Originally, that 2/3rds of the people meant 2/3rds of the people ACTUALLY voting.
But a funny thing happened on the way to Mohammed's Mountain...Shiite leaders snuck in a rule change that said that 2/3rds of ELIGIBLE voters in at least three districts would have to vote thumbs down for the constitution to be denied. Considering that a 60% of all eligible voter turnout is expected, the constitution is guaranteed to pass.
Oddly enough, the Sunni's are pissed and the American state department and defense department folks are embarrassed at what was SUPPOSED to be a democratic process. In fact the Sunni's are planning on boycotting the election.
In other Iraqi news, it was reported late last week in the Seattle Times that only ONE Iraqi battalion is ready to fight on its own. The assessment comes from the American army commander in Iraq. This is down from the three battalions reported to be combat ready just a month ago. A battalion is comprised of roughly 300 soldiers.
So, what do we have for our $5,000,000,000 a month war and 1,900 Americans who died, and the roughly 24,000 Iraqi civilians who died???
We have an Iraqi army that is not going to be ready to defend Iraq in our lifetime. We have an impending civil war that will rend this country in two or three parts. We have a constitutional Lewinski-job being worked on the Sunnis.
We have a f**king MESS. Our troops and our country deserve better than this.
There's this constitutional referendum on October 15th where the Iraqis can either ratify the new constitution or ask their leaders to start over. If 2/3rds of the voters of three districts (out of 18) dis-approve the constitution, then the deal goes south, and the Jefferson wanna-bes get to start again.
Originally, that 2/3rds of the people meant 2/3rds of the people ACTUALLY voting.
But a funny thing happened on the way to Mohammed's Mountain...Shiite leaders snuck in a rule change that said that 2/3rds of ELIGIBLE voters in at least three districts would have to vote thumbs down for the constitution to be denied. Considering that a 60% of all eligible voter turnout is expected, the constitution is guaranteed to pass.
Oddly enough, the Sunni's are pissed and the American state department and defense department folks are embarrassed at what was SUPPOSED to be a democratic process. In fact the Sunni's are planning on boycotting the election.
In other Iraqi news, it was reported late last week in the Seattle Times that only ONE Iraqi battalion is ready to fight on its own. The assessment comes from the American army commander in Iraq. This is down from the three battalions reported to be combat ready just a month ago. A battalion is comprised of roughly 300 soldiers.
So, what do we have for our $5,000,000,000 a month war and 1,900 Americans who died, and the roughly 24,000 Iraqi civilians who died???
We have an Iraqi army that is not going to be ready to defend Iraq in our lifetime. We have an impending civil war that will rend this country in two or three parts. We have a constitutional Lewinski-job being worked on the Sunnis.
We have a f**king MESS. Our troops and our country deserve better than this.
