Process

So here’s how it’s going to work: it looks like the constitution will be presented by the 15 August deadline. That sets in motion the process of public debate that will go on until October, when voters turn out to in a national referendum on the document. If this constitutional referendum goes off better than the EU’s did in France then national elections for a new government will take place in December. Voter registration is about to kick off in the next couple of days- and the IECI, the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq- has organized a legion of workers to make this happen. Just wanted to lay the groundwork for all this; it will most likely dominate my life for the next several months. I got to talk to a couple of guys who will be supervising the registration sites and running the polling places. That’s hard, hard work. And this is a tough, tough town. It was very humbling. When you imagine this place, and you want to imagine courage and bravery and sacrifice—you should imagine Iraqi faces; many, many Iraqi faces.