Partitioning Iraq May Be The Only Choice

The AP has a report today on how Iraq seems to be self-partitioning, and perhaps that's the only way to bring stability to the region:

In the 43 months since Saddam Hussein's ouster, entire Iraqi provinces have become virtually off-limits to one or another sect, mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods are slowly disappearing, and a Kurdish region in the north appears to have all but seceded.

In many ways, Iraq is breaking up, though not in a way in which a well-defined boundary could be established to ensure peace. It is happening amid a debate on whether partitioning this ethnically and religiously diverse nation could provide a way out of the growing sectarian violence tearing it apart.

The debate on partitioning Iraq has touched on such sensitive issues as the distribution of the country's oil wealth and how far plans for a federal system of government should go. Also at the forefront is the likely influence of neighboring powers like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria should the country be carved into Kurdish, Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab mini-states.

Embittered by the loss of their dominance under Saddam and worried they may be left isolated and bereft of resources in Iraq's mostly arid central and western parts, Sunni Arabs have warned that federalism will lead to the breakup of the country.

"I believe some Kurds and some (Shiite) Arabs in the south have been promoting federalism to pave the way for the larger goal of dividing Iraq," said Hamid al-Mutlaq, a senior member of the National Dialogue Front, a Sunni Arab political party.

I've thought for quite a while that partitioning might be the only hope for the region. When Yugoslavia self-destructed it ended up become several small countries, and although we've had to maintain a presence in the area, it's stayed fairly calm now that the warring parties are separated by political boundaries.

Bush is desperate to keep Iraq in one piece, but for what purpose? It's pretty apparent by now that these people cannot get along and would rather kill each other than work together. So why not carve the place up, divy up the oil revenue, and let everybody have their own territory? The world isn't going to be harmed if a violent and unstable Iraq becomes Kurdistan, Shiitestan and Sunnistan - especially if those countries are less violent and more stable.