Since a few months after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Sunni Iraqis have waged war against the United States and the entire Coalition because what they call is occupation. The Sunnis were the ruling party and chosen people in Iraq under Hussein, a Sunni himself. While the Kurdish and Shiite Iraqis stood to gain the most in a new Democratic Iraq because together they consist of 80 percent of Iraqis, the Sunnis had the most to lose.

This realization by the Sunnis sparked many Sunnis to join terrorist groups, though some formed a terrorist group, or join the Baathist-led insurgency. Sunnis boycotted the Iraqi elections and only trickled to the polls once they realized they would be left in the dust if they did not vote. Sunni Sheikhs were the “voice of reason” to encourage Sunnis not to vote, although terrorist groups also called on Sunnis to abstain as well.

Now it appears the Sunni Sheikhs are not done advocating a step back from Democracy and a step towards chaos as some Sunni Sheikhs are openly advocating strikes against Kurds and Shiites.

“The Americans aren’t the problem; we’re living under an occupation of Kurds and Shiites,” Sunni leader Sattar Abdulhalik Adburahman told a gathering of tribal leaders to deafening applause. “It’s time to fight back.”

Last week, Sunni sheikhs openly called on tribal leaders to lend political and logistical support to Sunni fighters locked in what they see as a necessary fight for survival as a minority in Iraq.

Too often we hear of Islamic clerics throughout the world releasing fatwas (religious edicts) or inciting violence towards the West, but now Sunni clerics are inciting violence towards Iraqis. The Iraqi government has bent over backwards to include Sunnis in the government despite the low Sunni voter turnout and the lack of desire by many Sunnis to participate in the government. Seats have been set aside in the parliment and a leadership position has all but been promised to a Sunni.

What thanks do the Sunni clerics have for this act? They urge violence and call fellow Iraqis an occupation force.