Calling armed insurgents "rats spreading disease among the people", Iraq's government on Sunday urged voters to approve the new constitution in a referendum next week and stand firm against militant efforts to taint it. Violence has escalated ahead of the October 15 vote on the charter, which is backed by most Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders but strongly opposed by much of the Sunni Arab community, elements of which are in open revolt against the U.S.-backed government. Sunni insurgents have detonated roadside bombs, launched suicide attacks, kidnapped people and vowed to step up violence ahead of the constitution vote, which many fear will seal the decline of Sunni influence in Iraq that began with the overthrow of former President Saddam Hussein.Chief government spokesman Laith Kubba on Sunday said the bloody campaign, which has intensified in recent months, should not sway Iraq's hopes of establishing a new, democratic state. "The people we are confronting are rats, spreading disease and death among the people," Kubba told a news conference. Although the rats are small, the disease they are carrying is harmful and there is no cure except confrontation."
Sunni Arab political groups appear to have backed down from earlier threats to boycott the referendum vote, with many urging their followers to turn out and vote against the draft. But Iraq's political landscape makes it unlikely that even a massive Sunni "No" vote would be able to prevent passage of the charter by the Shi'ite majority and its ethnic Kurdish allies.