I am not sure what the Sunni’s are expecting out of this strange political move, but they seem to be upset about federalism creating a divide in Iraq.

Angered by Shiite calls for a federal region, Sunni clerics urged followers Friday to vote against the constitution if it contains measures they believe would divide the country in a dispute that threatened to delay the charter’s completion by a Monday deadline.

Excuse me? This is the one sector in Iraq providing safeguard, operating bases and support to foreign Jihadists who are killing Iraqis in order to start a civil war among muslims. Yes, we also have the Al Sadr nut job, but he is the exception to the rule elsewhere in the country.

Sunni Arab leaders were responding to a demand by a leading Shiite legislator for provisions to allow local Shiite control in the southern and central parts of the country. Sunni Arabs fear they will lose out on oil revenues if the country is split into federated zones.

“We reject it wherever it is, whether in the north or in the south, but we accept the Kurdish region as it was before the war,” said Kamal Hamdoun, a Sunni member of the committee drafting the constitution. Some Shiite leaders want to replicate the success of Kurdish leaders in the north who govern an autonomous part of the country.

“The aim of federalism is to divide Iraq into ethnic and sectarian areas. We will cling to our stance of rejecting this,” Hamdoun said.

Cling is right. The Sunni’s are about to repeat the mistake they made in the last election. They need to recall they were the home base for Saddam and his blood thirsty thugs. The helped retain torture chambers and rape rooms. They need to be thankful the Shiite’s and Kurds are not as bent on vengeance as they used to be.