From a reader in Iraq:

Subject: “Iraqis will Vote ‘Yes’”
Jonah,
Long-time reader, first-time writer. Currenly finishing a 12-month deployment in Iraq with the US Army Reserves, I do “PSYOP”.
In the course of my job here I have spent months in parts of Diyala Province and Salah ad Din province, getting the “word on the ground” of the average Iraqi, feeling out political views, observing trends, etc.
From what I have seen, (and granted I have not worked in Baghdad, with its large population) the majority of Iraqis want the Americans to stay for as long as it takes for a strong Iraqi government to emerge. Different groups have different motivations: Kurds like how we keep the Arabs off their backs and occupied with other matters while they quietly go about re-populating ancestral areas and towns. Shi’a like the fact we keep the Sunni off their backs and are slowly building a Shi’a-governed nation. Sunni are split – the die-hard lunatics want us to leave so they can bring back Ba’athist fascism and oil profits. But a growing number of Sunni see the writing on the wall and crave what little additional security we provide while the country gets rebuilt.
So I like your referendum idea; in fact my group has debated the merit of such a referendum for months. If fairly executed I believe it would pass in our favor. Iraqis know that they are teetering on the brink of catastrophe and the only thing nailing their foot to the ground is the American forces….
Keep up the bitchin’ work,