BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A leading group of Iraqi Sunni clerics said on Wednesday any government emerging from Iraq's landmark election would lack legitimacy because many people had boycotted the poll. . . .

"These elections lack legitimacy because a large segment of different sects, parties and currents with their influence in Iraq boycotted," the Muslim Clerics' Association said.

"This necessarily means the coming national assembly and government that will emerge from it will not possess the legitimacy to enable them to draft the coming constitution or sign any security or economic agreements."

The Muslim Clerics Association, which urged Iraqis to boycott the poll because of U.S.-led attacks on Sunni cities, warned the United Nations that it would open a Pandora's box if it gave the election its seal of approval.

"We warn the United Nations and the international community of the danger of granting these elections legitimacy because this will open a door of evil and they will be the first to bear responsibility," it said.

Illegitimate election? I don't think so. These Sunni's had the same right to vote as everyone else did in Iraq. The fact that they chose not to participate in the Democratic process is irrelevant.

This carping is more indicative of the Sunni's desire to derail democracy in Iraq before it gets a chance to flourish than anything else. They're quite aware of the fact that their particular "tribe" is in the minority in Iraq and that most Iraqis hold them responsible for many of the evils perpetrated on the citizenry of that country during Saddam's regime, not to mention the terrorist insurgency that followed Saddam's fall.

They had no hope of their candidates winning the election, so at this point their only hope is to appeal to international anti-American sentiment and cast the elections in a shadow of illegitimacy. We can only hope that the chuckleheads at the UN and in governments around the world are capable of seeing past this ruse.