BAGHDAD, August 20, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As Iraqi politicians continue their troubled talks in a final bid to reach consensus on sticking points of the constitution before the extended deadline expires again, more forces raised their voices rejecting federalism.

Thousands of supporters of Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr took to the streets Friday, August 19, in a show of opposition to a federal Iraq from within the Shiite community itself.

The crowds chanted "No! No! to division," "Yes! Yes! to unity" as they marched through the Sadr City neighborhood of northeastern Baghdad and Khadamiya and Bayaa, two other mainly Shiite districts, Reuters reported.

Arab Sunnis are strongly against granting wide autonomy -- and control of oil income -- to the Shiites in the south.

Kurdish autonomy, secured de facto after the 1991 Gulf War, has been less of an issue but other groups are wary of demands from some Kurds to push for a possibility of outright secession.

Friday’s protestors carried Iraqi flags and vowed to scupper any attempt to divide the homeland.

The march highlighted dissent in Iraq’s Shiite community. The Sadr position counters the call voiced by chief of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, who has called for a Shiite autonomy.

“Moqtada Al-Sadr's concern is that Iraq must be united, not divided,” Fatah Al-Sheikh, a Shiite member of parliament who is closely allied to Sadr and led one of the marches, told Reuters.

But Iraq's national security adviser said Friday the country would descend into civil war if federalism was not entrenched in the constitution.

"Without federalism it means that no community interest has been addressed or fulfilled and therefore different communities will try to find and defend and fight for their rights," Mowaffaq Al-Rubaie told Reuters in an interview.

"I am worried about that. Yes. Absolutely. With a civil war you can't say 'today we don't have a civil war, tomorrow a civil war erupted'. Civil war creeps into the country very gradually."

He said federalism is “very good” for the Sunnis as well.

"Just imagine we have three provinces in the (Sunni region) triangle coming together in one region and that region enjoys all the rights of Kurdistan for example," said Rubaie, a member of the Shiite Dawa party, part of the ruling coalition.

"It is a federal system we are after and I think this is the only insurance policy for the unity of Iraq."

Sunnis co-drafting the constitution have warned that any federal text would be rejected by the voters.

"The people of Iraq will defeat a federal constitution in the October referendum," Sunni constitution committee member Saleh Al-Motlaq told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"We are against the principle of federalism because we want the country to be centrally governed."

Under the terms of interim legislation, the constitution fails if two-thirds of the voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces reject the text in the referendum.

The Sunnis form a majority in Al-Anbar, Tamim and Salaheddin provinces.

Sunnis have further expressed particular concern about the distribution of oil revenues under a federal constitution because the lion's share of Iraq's huge reserves lie in the north and south.

Shiite imam Jawad Mohamed Mahdi Al-Khalesi called on Shiite and Sunni scholars in Iraq last month to open hearts and engage in a genuine and frank talks to ward off a sectarian strife in the occupied country.

"It is a federal system we are after and I think this is the only insurance policy for the unity of Iraq," said Rubaie. (Reuters).

Iraqi politicians, meanwhile, are struggling to overcome sensitive issues, notably federalism, to meet an extended August 22 deadline for presenting a draft constitution to parliament.

"The charter will be finalized by Saturday or Sunday ... before the present deadline ends," committee member Munther Al-Fadhal told AFP.

The committee failed to meet an August 15 deadline for a final text amid persistent differences not only over federalism but also the role of Islam, so parliament granted a one-week extension.

"The meeting of leaders is on and they are trying to sort out the differences," said committee member Mahmoud Othman.

The US administration has put immense pressure on the drafting committee to stick by the target date for fear that any loss of momentum in the political process will play into the hands of “insurgents.”

But a former US official, who served as chief advisor in the drafting of an interim basic law last year, said parliament could extend the deadline "as many times as they like."

"What happened at 11:58 pm last Monday was that the national assembly and the presidency council voted to add a new provision authorizing one week extra," said Noah Feldman.

"There's no reason they couldn't do this again," he told AFP by telephone from New York.

In Washington, the State Department said US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad was involved in "intensive diplomacy" to help get the constitution drafted before the deadline expires Monday.

Some panelists warned last week of a looming political crisis if they failed once again to reach a compromise.

US experts on Iraq have further warned that too much US pressure on Iraqi leaders could backfire and undermine the leadership's credibility.

If a constitution is agreed by the August 22 extended deadline, it will go to a referendum by October 15 and a full-term parliament would be elected by December.