 A prominent Sunni cleric yesterday denounced Kurdish proposals to transform Iraq into a federal state as a plot to deny other Iraqis "our wealth and resources".
| "That's right! It's a plot! A conspiracy, hatched in a back room, among dark men of sinister visage! I seen it!" |
"There are conspiracies being prepared to deny us our wealth and resources," Shaikh Mahmoud Al Sumaidaie told worshippers during a sermon at the Umm Al Qura mosque. "We don't want a constitution that leads to the division of the country. We are hearing cries for federalism, cries of those who are not honest to this country."
| "... Cries of those we used to rule with an iron hand!" |
The Kurds want a federal system to make sure they continue to govern themselves in the Kurdish heartland of the north, where they have enjoyed self-rule since 1991. Some Shiites have also proposed a Shiite regional, autonomous region in the south. But many Sunnis believe federalism is a first step to divide the nation. Most of Iraq's oil wealth is in the north and the mostly Shiite south.
| Hmmm... Ain't that a coincidence? |
"I want to say to those who want to change the identity of our Islamic country that people of this country are brothers," Al Sumaidaie said. "Iraq will remain the country of all Iraqis Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Turkomen." |