As Yitzhak Nakash , the Brandeis University expert on the Shiites , put it : '' We need to see a form of federalism in Iraq that is uniting Iraqis , not dividing them -- a form of federalism that gives Shiites , Sunnis and Kurds a degree of cultural and religious autonomy without compromising either Iraq 's political unity or Baghdad 's role as the locus of national politics .