Joan Cole is pessimistic about the future of Iraq following the apparent passage of the constitution (snippet):

The Washington spinmeisters who are trying to say that the mere fact of the Sunnis voting is a good thing, even if they voted against the constitution, do no know what they are talking about. Political participation is not always a positive thing. The Nazis after all were elected to the Reichstag. And Serbs consistently voted for Milosevic and other ultra-nationalists. Nobody in Washington thought it positive that Iranian hardliners came out in some numbers to vote for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Some elections are tragedies for a nation. This constitutional referendum was one of them. Even without a hint of fraud, the new constitution is provocation enough. It probably reduces the Sunni Arab share of national petroleum resources to 5 or 10 percent. The Association of Muslim Scholars was hopping mad. AP says, ' "If the constitution was passed, the attacks will definitely rise against the occupation forces and the security situation is going to get worse," said Sheik Abdul-Salam al-Kubaisi, a prominent cleric. ' In contrast, Iran is jumping up and down for joy that the constitution appears to have passed and that there will be elections Dec. 15 for a 5-year parliament, predicting a "bright future" for Iraq. Fox Cable News might consider booking more Iranian officials; they seem to be entirely with the program.