Call me when the killing stops

I hung back from posting on Saturday's constitutional referendum in Iraq because I like to give the Bush bloggers their day to gloat, but I got into a bit of a debate at Don Surber's blog over it. As I said over there, this "landmark" vote really doesn't mean anymore than the last one. Yeah, it was peaceful, because they kept all traffic off the road and they had armed forces at the polling centers and yeah a lot of people voted, truly putting our own population to shame. But what did it change?

I'd say nothing. Five Marines died that day when they hit an IED and unless the Sunnis accept the vote as valid, the violence is likely to only get worse. Already the Iraq "electoral commission said it intended to audit "unusually high" numbers in results coming from most provinces..." due to widespread allegations of fraud. It would appear they have some basis to protest.

An official with knowledge of the election process said that in some areas the proportion of "yes" or "no" votes seemed unusual. The official cautioned that it was too early to say whether the unusual figures were actually incorrect or what caused the high or low numbers.

The province of Diyala, for example, is believed to have a slight Sunni Arab majority. But reports from electoral officials there on Sunday reported a 70 percent "yes" vote and a 20 percent "no."

Meanwhile, US warplanes bombed two western villages Sunday, killing an estimated 70 militants near a site where five American soldiers died in a roadside blast. Eyewitnesses however, report at least 14 to 25 of those "insurgents" were civilians. Sounds like business as usual to me.