THE EVEN MORE RADICAL SOLUTION....DEMOCRACY:

Sunnis seek seats, voice via ballots: In shift, leaders end boycott, back election (Thanassis Cambanis, December 4, 2005, Boston Globe)

Rival Sunni leaders have abandoned their past boycotts and have set aside their power struggles, creating electoral coalitions that bring together former religious groups, secular Iraqis, Ba'athists, and resistance sympathizers. Tribal Sunni Arab leaders even say they have an informal agreement with the insurgency to curb attacks in the Sunni heartland to maximize turnout in the vote on Dec. 15.

''If we enter the political process, we can push away the dangers that have massed against us in the last year, the revenge, the torture," said Hussein al-Fallouji, a leader of an Islamic Sunni group that has joined forces with other Sunni political blocs to run in the election, which will choose the first Iraqi government under the new constitution. [...]

At many radical mosques, imams who once counseled civil disobedience, election boycotts, and armed resistance against the US occupation now say voting can help Sunni Arabs claim their rightful place at the political table.

The Sunni still face a psychic break when they boost their turnpout percentage and then realize they're only 20% of the population, but that's the point at which they finally realize that federalism favors them.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 4, 2005 9:05 AM