Blackout Hits Baghdad On Eve of Historic Vote; the Power Outage, Caused by Sabotage, Is Not Likely to Affect Today's Balloting

Summary

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents sabotaged power lines Friday, plunging the Iraqi capital into darkness and cutting off water supplies on the eve of a landmark vote on a constitution that would define democracy in Iraq.

The charter - hammered out after months of bitter negotiations - is supported by a Shiite-Kurdish majority but has split Sunni Arab ranks after last-minute amendments designed to win support among the disaffected minority.

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Blackout Hits Baghdad On Eve of Historic Vote; the Power Outage, Caused by Sabotage, Is Not Likely to Affect Today's Balloting

In Friday sermons across the nation, the message from Shiite pulpits was an unequivocal "yes," but it was not so clear-cut in Sunni Arab mosques - varying from "yes," "no...

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