Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Iraq voters seen approving constitution (Reuters)

Fermera' la guerriglia?
Am.
 Iraq voters seen approving constitution
By Andrew Quinn and Mariam Karouny  24 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi voters have probably approved a new 
U.S.-backed constitution, overcoming fierce Sunni Arab opposition in a 
vote Washington hopes will boost its beleaguered Iraq strategy, results 
showed on Sunday.
Early counts from Saturday's referendum indicated the vote split as 
expected along largely communal lines, reflecting the bitter ethnic and 
religious tensions that have cost thousands of Iraqi lives since the 
U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Tight security kept the polls mostly peaceful although five U.S. 
soldiers were killed in the Sunni west, the military said.
Despite high turnout in some Sunni Arab areas, partial counts suggested 
the charter's opponents did not muster enough "No" votes to veto it. 
According to the referendum rules, a two-thirds "No" vote in three of 
Iraq's 18 provinces would block the constitution even if most Iraqis 
backed it.
"All indications we are getting ... are encouraging and positive for a 
'Yes' vote for this constitution. This would be really a major 
achievement," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told CNN. "So my guess 
is, yes, it will be passed."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking in London as votes 
were counted in Iraq, said the constitution had probably passed -- 
angering some Sunni leaders who accused her of pressuring Iraqi 
officials to fix the result.
Rice later said the final tally was still not known, but that a "Yes" 
vote would help turn the tide against a Sunni Arab insurgency which has 
pushed Iraq close to civil war.
"The key here is the Sunnis have voted in large numbers. One way or 
another, the Iraqis will be in a position to move forward," Rice told 
NBC television.
"You defeat an insurgency politically as well as militarily. It will 
take time... an insurgency cannot ultimately survive without a 
political base."
The five soldiers killed by a roadside bomb that wrecked their vehicle 
in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi took the number of Americans to 
die in the Iraq war to at least 1,970.
The U.S. statement gave no details, but Ramadi police reported that a 
Bradley fighting vehicle had been destroyed, suggesting the use of one 
of the more powerful devices that U.S. commanders say insurgents have 
developed this year.
Electoral Commission chief Hussein al-Hendawi told Reuters turnout was 
running at 63-64 percent, above the 58 percent seen in January when 
many Sunnis boycotted the country's first elections after the fall of 
Saddam Hussein, who is a Sunni.
Election results indicated a strong "Yes" vote in the Shi'ite Muslim 
provinces of the south and massive rejection in the Sunni Arab 
heartlands of the north and west.
SUNNI COMPLAINT
Sunni leader Saleh al-Mutlak said he estimated that most Sunni Arabs, 
who make up 20 percent of the population, voted "No" despite a 
U.S.-brokered deal with one Sunni political party which backed the 
constitution in return for a promise to consider amendments next year.
Mutlak questioned the validity of any result: "Condoleezza Rice made a 
statement," he told reporters. "I believe it is a signal to the 
Electoral Commission to pass the constitution."
Salahaddin province, one of at least three with a Sunni Arab majority 
that might have helped form a veto, voted "No" by 70 percent, a poll 
official said. Neighboring Anbar province, whose capital is Ramadi, was 
also likely to reject it.
But the "No" camp trailed in the northern province of Niniveh, around 
the city of Mosul, decreasing chances of a veto.
A senior government source said 419,000 of the 643,000 ballots cast in 
Niniveh had been counted and that the results were showing 75 percent 
had so far voted "Yes."
Kurdish leaders, who originally inserted the three-province veto clause 
to protect their own interests, have denied Arab accusations of packing 
Mosul with Kurdish voters.
Diyala, another province with a big Sunni population, seemed unlikely 
to return a "No" vote big enough to block the charter.
U.S. HOPES, IRAQI FEARS
Under pressure to extract its 150,000 troops from Iraq's unremitting 
violence, the United States championed the new charter as a step toward 
stability despite concern it could spur further tension if Sunnis 
decide to fight it.
Sunni militants fear the charter hands the country, and especially its 
oil-rich regions, to the Shi'ite majority and their Kurdish allies who 
now dominate the government.
But unlike Iraq's last election in January, which saw more than 40 die 
in suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks, Saturday's vote was 
largely peaceful as a huge security clampdown prevented all but a 
handful of ineffectual strikes.
"When I went to the polling center, I found that everything was 
organized," said a man who gave his name as Samad, standing outside one 
Baghdad polling place on Sunday.
"No-one forced us to write 'Yes' or 'No'. We chose."
If the constitution passes, Iraqis will vote again in December for a 
new, four-year parliament, a step Washington says will mark its full 
emergence as a democratic Western ally.
A "No" vote in the referendum would force Iraq's feuding factions back 
to the drawing board.
(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Alastair Macdonald, Ahmed Rashid, 
Michael Georgy, Luke Baker, Omar al-Ibadi in Baghdad, Ibon 
Villelabeitia in Mosul Ibon Villelabeitia in Mosul, Ghaswan al-Jibouri 
in Tikrit, Fadel al-Badrani in Falluja, Sami Jumaili in Kerbala and 
Khaled Farhan in Najaf)

 Fermera' la guerriglia?
Quale? Quella che esiste nella tua fantasia?
-Stefano


"There are no Guerrilla infidels in Baghdad. Never!"
Muhammed Seed Stefano al-cesaris
http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/

> Quale? Quella che esiste nella tua fantasia?
Dimenticavo anche che esiste anche nella mente malata del povero
Torrieri che si e' sentito offeso ed escluso per questo :)
-Stefano

Due articoletti sulla politica locale (del Quebec):  Il partito
indipendentista (Parti' Quebecois) sta svolgendo le primarie.
I candidati si stanno accapigliando
su questioni "importanti" tipo "chi e' piu' duro con l'Inglese".  Cioe,
chi e' piu' zelante nel far rispettare le leggi sulla "dominanza del
francese" sui cartelli stradali e le insegne pubbliche.
Uno dei candidati piu' "radicali" e' venuto a parlare alla McGill e ha
detto chiaro e tondo che per lui "le universita' non sono una
priorita', lo e' l'indipendenza"
(sic!)   Si e' scusato del fatto che sia il suo sito web sia quello del
suo partito sono solo in Francese "per mancanza di fondi".  (Yeah,
right!  Anche i partiti politici francesi hanno una pagina in Inglese,
perdio!).
Tanto per provare l'idiozia implicita in qualsiasi forma di
nazionalismo.
Qui', perlomeno, e' solo idiota, non e' pericoloso.
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/specials/pqleadership/story.html?id=5df5d168-59f0-40f5-88e2-9685d65e8c8b
Boisclair, Marois accused of being soft on English
PHILIP AUTHIER
The Gazette
Thursday, October 13, 2005
A Parti Quebecois leadership debate on culture veered into the hot
issue
of language last night, with hardline language hawks systematically
blasting leading candidates Andre Boisclair and Pauline Marois for
failing
to crack down on English while they were in power.
But the duo stood their ground even as a rowdy crowd of Pequistes
cheered
on the hawks and booed the leaders. At one point, Lyne Marcoux, the
chairperson of the debate, ordered hardliner candidate Jean Claude
St-Andre's microphone shut off because he would not stop haranguing
them
and kept veering off topic. In the end, Boisclair and Marois both had
to
make strong pitches for moderation.
"Some say we should defend our plan on the basis of a kind of ethnic
nationalism," Boisclair said at one point. "I am in favour of a
nationalism that is derived from the soil. I am opposed to a
nationalism
that is derived from blood.
"All Quebecers who live here, regardless of where they come from, will
be
founders of this country and this is a principle I will fight for and I
will make no compromise on this."
Marois also had a strong answer, reminding St-Andre that differences
can
be a beautiful thing and people from other countries should have an
equal
chance to learn French in Quebec.
She bluntly told him later he should remember who the real enemy is.
"The adversary is not Richard (Legendre), it's not me," Marois said.
"The
adversaries are Jean Charest in front of us and the federalists, and I
will pour all my energies into beating them, into beating Jean Charest,
into beating the federalists because I want to make Quebec
independent."
It was clear from the outset the hawks had come spoiling for a fight.
Off
the top, St-Andre was on the attack.
"Let's be frank, French is threatened in Quebec," he said.
He accused Marois and Boisclair of "caving in," and not respecting the
PQ's 1994 promise to abolish Bill 86, the law restoring bilingual signs
outdoors.
He said when Boisclair was immigration minister, he cut funding to
programs for immigrants to learn French. The French Language Charter,
he
said, has been hacked at so much it is nothing more than a "corpse."
After the debate, Boisclair was again asked about his use of cocaine,
specifically how he procured it. Boisclair didn't answer the question.
The debate marks the midway point in the campaign to replace Bernard
Landry and the pressure is on. It was the third of seven debates the PQ
is
sponsoring in the lead up to the November leadership vote and once
again
drew a capacity crowd of 1,000 people to the ornate J.-Antonio Thompson
theatre on main street Trois Rivieres.
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=4264
Sovereignty, not education, a priority for Parti Québécois candidate
By Francesca Allodi-Ross
News Writer
With just over one month to go before Parti Québécois (PQ) members
elect
their next leader, one of the candidates spoke to McGill students about
the merits of Quebec sovereignty.
Louis Bernard, who was the Chief of Cabinet under René Lévesque,
cited
Quebec?s unique concerns, and the need to be able to give them voice on
the international stage, as one of the main arguments for
independence. According to him, Quebec?s positions on military spending
and the Kyoto Protocol warrant sovereignty.
He made it clear that, more than any other candidate, he would make the
fight for the province?s sovereignty his top priority, but was
reluctant
to discuss any other issues he could face as the leader of Quebec.
Bernard said that his position on last year?s cuts to education, for
example, were not relevant to his mission of making Quebec its own
country.
?I know there are problems in higher education, but what I think about
that is not relevant to what I?m trying to do,? he said.
The only other issue addressed during the discussion was brought up
during
question period by a student who compared the situation of Quebec in
Canada to that of the First Nations in Quebec, who have also been
fighting
for self-governance. Bernard referred to his experience as negotiator
for
the province with the Aboriginals, and said that he would support their
right to self-government.
Many pundits speculate that the PQ will be in a position to win the
next
provincial election ? regardless of the popularity of its platform for
sovereignty ? due to current Liberal Premier Jean Charest?s low
popularity. Bernard said that he would not see a win as a vote for
independence.
?To replace Charest with a PQ government just because they are fed up
would not be conducive to achieving the separatist goal,? he said.
Bernard, who was the only PQ leadership candidate to accept an
invitation
from the External Affairs Committee of SSMU, said that an independent
Quebec would continue to welcome its anglophone citizens.
?The anglophone part of Quebec is very important and we need to tell
them
that they are important,? said Bernard to a mixed anglophone and
francophone audience. He cited McGill and the Montreal General Hospital
as
examples of significant contributions anglophones have made to the
province.
Despite this, neither the PQ?s nor Louis Bernard?s web site appears in
English. Bernard said he would rectify this as soon as he was elected,
citing budget constraints for the state of his web site.
Hugues Bergeron, a francophone McGill student in attendance who
supports
the separatist cause, said that even though about 20 per cent of McGill
students are French-speaking, they are not likely to advocate
sovereignty.
Recent polls show that about half of Quebec?s population support
separating from Canada.
PQ members will decide who will replace outgoing leader Bernard Landry
between November 13 and 15. The current front-runner is André
Boisclair,
who aroused controversy by admitting to using cocaine sometime during
his
tenure serving as a cabinet minister between 1996 and 2003.