Media Coverage of the Iraq Vote

Depending on who you read this morning, the Iraqi vote on the Constitution was either wildly successful or fraught with difficulties.  The New York Times leads off its article discussing the effects of the insurgency on several Sunni voting sites, and the fractious and divergent situations in various Anbar locales. The Washington Post also focusses on the Sunni vote, but on the huge increase in Sunni voting in this election over the last.  In a second article, the Post headline indicates that Sunni turnout was high and that insurgent attacks largely halted during the referendum (hardly the impression that the NYT leaves you with).  Across "the pond" the Times of London reports on the huge turnout during in "unexpected calm," but also indicates that the high Sunni turnout may have been an effort to vote down the new Constitution.  The BBC report seems the most straight-forward, just-the-facts reporting, including a prediction by Condoleeza Rice that the referendum would likely pass.  This AP article printed in The Guardian, has considerable optimism about the Sunni involvement in a peaceful process. Wizbang, however, points out that the photos with another version of the AP article highlight the difficulties of the vote rather than the broader positive nature of the story.