Why associate an attribute with a namespace ?

Hi,



            Attributes cannot exist without an element. If the element is
attached to a namespace then than should ensure that there will be no conflict
with other elements with a similar same name but from different namespaces.
Attributes cannot be accessed outside the context of elements. Since elements
are uniquely identified so are their attributes.
            Is there any logic for allowing this (like SGML compatibility) ?



Regards,
Razvan