However, federalism is a concept which is foreign to many Iraqis reared under centralized, one-party rule. For many of them, especially the Sunni Arabs, federalism is a codeword for national disintegration.
Those fears are especially high in northern areas such as Mosul and Kirkuk, which remained under Saddam's control but which many Kurds feel should be theirs.
Some experts believe the Sunday attacks may have been aimed in part at driving a wedge between the Kurds and the other ethnic groups at a time when the US is urging all parties to cooperate.
"I think that they are trying to drive a wedge between the north and the center," said Jonathan Schanzer, a terrorism expert for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "They will want the Kurds to circle the wagons and make them more suspicious of Arabs. This will certainly add to the fractured landscape of Iraq."
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