Powerful Shi’ite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr came out fiercely against federalism yesterday a day after a leading Shi’ite politician said Iraq should be split into semi-autonomous regions based on sect and ethnicity. To demand federalism is to flirt with a non-binding US Senate resolution calling for a devolution of power to three self-governing regions — for Shi’ites, Sunnis and Kurds, Sadr’s office said here. | To small a playpen for him? |
Responding to his comments, Sadr’s office said that the movement’s opposition to federalism “is firm and has not been changed”. “After the US Congress voted to divide Iraq, it is clear that insisting on applying federalism in the current tragic Iraqi situation is a flirtation with” the US Congress resolution, Sadr’s spokesman Sheikh Saleh Al Obeidi said.