Patrick Cockburn  The referendum on the constitution is dividing
Iraqis. Sunni Arabs fear it will destroy the country by breaking
it up into cantons. The Shias and Kurds hope it will give birth
to a new Iraq in which they will hold power. The US has put
intense pressure on negotiators to reach an agreement because it
is desperate to prove to ever more sceptical American voters
that Iraq is fast progressing towards democracy.  But the mood
in Baghdad is determined more by day-to-day considerations of
survival than the upcoming referendum or the fresh elections for
the National Assembly on 15 December. There is a sense that
society is disintegrating. The better off districts of the
capital have become ghost towns. Real estate prices have
collapsed. ‘First the rich left, then the better off, but now
even people who earn $300 to $400 a month are getting out and
going to Jordan or Syria,’ a wealthy businessman living in Amman
for fear of kidnappers told me.  You are not logged in