Some vote 'no' as sign of protest against U.S.

If two-thirds of voters in three Sunni provinces vote 'no,' the charter is defeated.
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- By voting against the constitution, Ammar Mustafa wanted to do more than reject a document he thinks will divide Iraq. The young Sunni Arab wanted to show the Americans that he didn't appreciate what he saw as U.S. meddling in his country.
"This is a contribution to democracy my way, not the American way," he said.
He and other Sunni Arab voters turned out in surprising numbers Saturday, many of them heeding calls of their clerics to reject the charter. If two-thirds of voters in three Sunni provinces reject the constitution, it will be defeated, even if it wins a majority nationwide.
But even if minority Sunnis fail to block the charter's ratification, a strong "no" vote within the community -- which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein -- raises questions about whether the charter will fulfill Washington's goal of luring fighters away from the Sunni-led insurgency.
Many Sunnis oppose the constitution because they consider it an American-designed instrument aimed at dividing the country and benefiting Shiites and Kurds.
"We have entered the political process now because our rights were being usurped by others who have marginalized us," said Sunni Hazem Jassim, 45, referring to Iraq's other factions.
Few voters in some areas
Turnout in western areas of heavily Sunni Anbar province -- the front line of the insurgency -- was low, with most residents huddling in homes as polls stood nearly empty. However, so few Shiites and Kurds live in Anbar that a low turnout there hardly matters if the overwhelming majority of those who did vote cast ballots against the charter.
In Haditha, a deeply conservative Sunni Arab city of about 60,000 people in western Anbar, only about 150 voters showed up at the main polling station, a heavily guarded school at the top of a hill, chosen to prevent car bombings.
Of those voters, only one was a woman. Wearing a veil, she gripped her husband's hand as they climbed the steep walkway to the polls.
Yet even a modest turnout was a victory of sorts: In the January parliamentary election, only one person voted in Haditha, according to Marine Capt. Shannon Neller of New York.
Turnout was much stronger in Fallujah, the Sunni insurgent stronghold seized last November by American forces in some of the most intense urban combat of the Iraq war.