America ponders cutting Iraq in three

The Sunday Times ^ | October 08, 2006 | Sarah Baxter

[US Navy guy]

AN independent commission set up by Congress with the approval of President George W Bush may recommend carving up Iraq into three highly autonomous regions, according to well informed sources.

[US Navy guy]

In the early 1920's Winston Churchill propsed doing this BUT twin jackasses Great Britain PM Lloyd Goerge and France's Pres Clemecau shot it down and gave us the historical failure of Iraq.

[butternut_squash_bisque]

Dumb Question: how's that going to help the situation? Won't the 3 new 'provinces/countries/nations' just keep fighting each other? They hate each other's guts, so what's to prevent them from continuing the war? And the Shit-ites are the ones aligned with Iran and Syria in terrorism, aren't they? Won't they keep attacking the other two?

Okay, so that was more than *one dumb question*...

[US Navy guy]

The Shiites and sunnis have HATED each other for Mellenia. So NOTHING we can do will change that. Split them up and at least we can get oil from the north (Kirrkuk) which is where the Kurds are.

[Zhang Fei]

Dumb Question: how's that going to help the situation? Won't the 3 new 'provinces/countries/nations' just keep fighting each other? They hate each other's guts, so what's to prevent them from continuing the war? And the Shit-ites are the ones aligned with Iran and Syria in terrorism, aren't they? Won't they keep attacking the other two?

The Kurds don't want all of Iraq. They're like Slovenia. The Shiites may want all of Iraq, but they have to go through Sunni Iraq in the center to get to Kurdistan. Sunni Iraq is too busy trying to prevent the Shiites from overrunning them to fight the Kurds. Bottom line is that once we get a few states running and start doing the kinds of population transfers we did at the end of WWII, things will settle down. Defending borders is easier than doing garrison work. The states of the former Yugoslavia aren't really doing much fighting, are they?

[BigBobber]

They will all want to a share of the oil wealth. That will be the tricky part of making this work.

[CyberAnt]

I have the same concerns.

But .. I look at the Kurds, and they are prosperous and looking toward the future .. I keep wondering if they would be better off if they could have their own "state" within Iraq?

I don't know what the solution is - I wish I did. But .. no matter what we choose - the dems will say it's the wrong choice .. even though the dems were for breaking up Iraq from the beginning.

[R_Kangel]

My guess is a war or some kind of separations will inevitably have to be fought to separate these three extreme tribal communities.

It is too bad it couldn't have happened when we took out Saddam and the borders drawn then.

I think it is kind of like forcing the Bloods, Cryps, and MS13 to live together in harmony on the same block of land and work out their differences.

It ain't gonna happen.

[Wormwood]

Where was this wisdom BEFORE the invasion?

Slam Dunk, indeed.

[US Navy guy]

People(Even the Bush '43 admin) who do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it.

[sgtbono2002]

Lets back the Kurds and let the others fight to the death.

[Nuc1]

I recommended splitting Iraq up when before the war started. Still do. We should disposition the oil revenues proportionally between the provinces. Folks that cause trouble don't get any money. If they don't like the arrangement TDB. It might work.

[mhx]

Turkey's going to be hating this.

[Dan Cooper]

Here are the key quotes (amid the "spiraling out of control" crap)

His group will not advise “partition”, but is believed to favour a division of the country that will devolve power and security to the regions, leaving a skeletal national government in Baghdad in charge of foreign affairs, border protection and the distribution of oil revenue.

The Iraqi government will be encouraged to hold a constitutional conference paving the way for greater devolution. Iran and Syria will be urged to back a regional settlement that could be brokered at an international conference.

They are not advising splitting into three different countries, but greater federalization. And it isn't the "Americans" who are going to do it, it will be the Iraqis who choose (or not) to do it through a constitutional convention.

[Wormwood]

They are not advising splitting into three different countries, but greater federalization. And it isn't the "Americans" who are going to do it, it will be the Iraqis who choose (or not) to do it through a constitutional convention.

Santa Claus. Tooth Fairy. Iraqi Constitutional Republic.

[butternut_squash_bisque]

"Defending borders is easier than doing garrison work."

Good point...

[munin]

So now we are back to Sumer in the south, Akkad/Babelonia in the middle and Assyria/Gutium in the North.
What a concept? Abraham would likely have recognized this.
Seems I made this suggestions as the only solution that would work back in 2002, hope they do it

[DAC22]

Great, now Biden gets to crow about it was his idea. No doubt he was on one if not all of the Sunday morning shows.

[GSlob]

Well, one Gaius Julius Caesar reported that the Gallia [Gaul] was divided in three parts - forgot which ones, one was Belgica, and there were two others - does not matter. So, learning from history, if Gallia was divided in three parts, then why not Iraq?

[B-Chan]

Excellent idea. This way we can concentrate our forces where there's actually a chance of success (i.e. among the civilized and ambitious Kurds) while remaining accessible to neighboring areas should trouble arise. Let the Shiites and Sunnis cut each other's throats to their hearts' content.

[Wormwood]

Great, now Biden gets to crow about it was his idea.

If this plan will save lives and lead to greater stability, who cares who claims credit.

I'm sick of party politics trumping stacks of innocent corpses.