Iraq's little-read charter evokes strong views

Just days before Iraq's constitutional referendum on Saturday few Iraqis have read the country's new draft charter or even know what's in the document.

But ask the average Shiite what they think of Iraq's proposed constitution and it will be praised to the heavens. Ask a Sunni, and he or she says that it will lead to the breakup of Iraq, and a deepening of its civil war.

Many simply say they're voting based on what leaders of their communities say, and when they speak of the document's weaknesses or advantages, they focus on group, rather than national interests.

"Of course I'm voting no,'' says Abu Mustafa, a Sunni security guard in Baghdad who declined to give his full name. "The Muslim Scholars Association [a leading group of Sunni preachers] have told us it's terrible for Iraq."

Even though few people have seen the document, it's expected to pass easily. The demographic weight of Iraq's Shiite majority and Kurdish minority, who also support the constitution, is likely to swamp Sunni Arab discontent.

But the referendum could be defeated if a simple majority of Iraqis, or two-thirds of the voters in any three provinces, vote no. But while Sunnis, who make up about 15 to 20 percent of the national population, are probably a majority in at least three provinces, in two of the three there are substantial Kurdish and Shiite minorities.

Most of Iraq's people rely on government-subsidized food rations, and the government had promised to distribute a copy of the charter to every Iraqi family this week through its ration shops. But two Baghdad ration shops visited Tuesday said that only 40 copies had been delivered for the 330 families they do business with.

Even when the constitution is read, many Iraqis say its meaning isn't clear.

"I don't really get the details, but the situation will definitely become better,'' says Hassan Ghazal who runs a government ration shop in Baghdad. "The Sunnis don't like it, so if it passes it will weaken them and put them into a corner. And that should make things more peaceful."

In more violence-prone areas like Sunni-dominated Anbar Province in western Iraq, where US military operations are ongoing, even fewer Iraqis have seen constitutional drafts.

The lack of basic knowledge about the constitution is serving to feed mistrust and conspiracy theories, particularly among the Sunni community from which Iraq's insurgency draws most of its fighters.

"I haven't even been able to read the constitution yet - the government is deliberately keeping it away from us to trick us,'' says Abu Mustafa. "But I don't have to read it to know how bad it is. It's designed to break up the country. Even if the voters reject it, the Iranians and the Americans, who have the most to gain from this constitution, will rig the results."

Iraq's charter was drafted by the country's Shiite-dominated National Assembly, which was elected in January. The document itself was the product of compromises worked out between Shiites and the strong minority Kurdish bloc - with Kurds getting promises of greater autonomy in exchange for their acquiescence to strong language favoring Islam in the text. Sunni leaders say their input to the process was generally ignored.

The document itself is vague enough that its real value will be measurable only when it's put into practice. While it promises "federalism," the amount of autonomy that Iraqi regions will achieve for themselves is not yet entirely clear.

Amid all the confusion, Iraqi voters are defaulting to the sources they trust most: Tribal leaders and religious figures on either side of the Shiite-Sunni divide.

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