Biden proposes spliting Iraq into three regions

[Quixote1818]

Senator Proposes Splitting Iraq Into Three Regions
Sunnis Would Be Guaranteed a Share of Oil Revenues

WASHINGTON (May 1) - The senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee proposed Monday that Iraq be divided into three separate regions - Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni - with a central government in Baghdad.

In an op-ed essay in Monday's edition of The New York Times, Sen. Joseph Biden. D-Del., wrote that the idea "is to maintain a united Iraq by decentralizing it, giving each ethno-religious group ... room to run its own affairs, while leaving the central government in charge of common interests."

The new Iraqi constitution allows for establishment of self-governing regions. But that was one of the reasons the Sunnis opposed the constitution and why they demanded and won an agreement to review it this year.

Biden and co-writer Leslie H. Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, acknowledged the opposition, and said the Sunnis "have to be given money to make their oil-poor region viable. The Constitution must be amended to guarantee Sunni areas 20 percent (approximately their proportion of the population) of all revenues."

More at:

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060501073309990001

[leftchick]

1. I don't believe it is his to split

now is it?

[Roland99]

2. Nope. It's no one's to split but the Iraqis.

Joe needs sit on his on split.

[Mr.Green93]

3. Might be a good idea

for this land mass.

[TomInTib]

4. This has been the plan all along. I know that for a fact.

I should do a post on that. But it is wine time.

[Terran1212]

5. What the hell is Biden thinking?

Does he even care what Iraqis think? They don't want to be split, that's what THEY'VE BEEN FIGHTING! You split them, then the autonomous regions will be at war with eachother behind unified governments and armies...

[Quixote1818]

14. In case you havent noticed, they are already fighting.

nt

[Terran1212]

18. No THEY ARE NOT

The ethnic groups are NOT fighting eachother. Small members of militant groups are, and they and YOU are perpetuating the myth of sectarian strife. Never in its history has Iraq had a civil war, and it won't have one now. The groups are much too integrated. Read up on Iraqi history and stop letting western commentators tell you what Iraq is and what Iraq isn't.

[leftchick]

6. Juan Cole's take is worth the read...

<snip>

Monday, May 01, 2006

Settling Iraq before it Blows Up

A renewed debate on the possible partition of Iraq is emerging.

Let's get one thing out of the way. As for letting a civil war rage, deliberately, I don't understand. Everyone is (rightly) complaining about world inaction on the genocide in the Sudan. But here you want to provoke a genocide (maybe a million dead and 5 million displaced) and have troops in the region and not intervene? Doesn't that make you worse than Khartoum? It is despicable. And, remember that such a war a) would not stay inside Iraq--it would become regional; and b) a full-scale war in the Persian Gulf region will lead to a big increase in your gasoline prices (as in, you ain't seen nuttin' yet).

Personally, I am against breaking up Iraq. I don't think it is more unworkable than Nigeria or Lebanon. And, the consequences are unforeseeable and potentially very, very dangerous.

I do, however, believe that the tendencies toward separatism must be recognized and managed.

I say that we make 5 superprovinces: Deep South, Middle Euphrates, Baghdad, Sunnistan, and Kurdistan, along with two smaller ethnic enclaves, of Turkomanistan and Chaldeanistan in the north. Bear with me.


http://www.juancole.com/

[Old and In the Way]

7. Inevitable, I think.

Iraq was a country cobbled together in the 20th century. Only Saddam's ruthless control over the factions kept them together as a nation. A balkanization of Iraq may be the only way the primary groups can live in peace. Maybe a weak federation with power in the regional governments would work.

[Terran1212]

8. You're buying the Western myth

The myth that Iraqis and Muslims and Arabs do not buy: that Iraq is a nation of sectarianism. True, its lines were drawn without popular consent, but today the Shi'a and Sunni are intermarried and the Kurds live practically seperately. By continuing to talk of sectarianism and how the groups need to seperate, you're making the myth reality and making things worse!

[Old and In the Way]

11. I have no dog in this fight.

The proof will be how the Iraqis deal with it. If they want a central government, they need to subvert they regional, ethic identities and promote their common interests in a united Iraq. The problem seems to be Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran may have other designs for this region.

[KoKo]

19. What the Iraqi's decide should be what they decide...Juan Cole probably

has a good scenario...but who will listen. We have to hope that what he says will be what they decide if they want it.

It sounds better than a "civil war" that Americans brought on that goes on for decades...

[Old and In the Way]

20. "What the Iraqi's decide should be what they decide"

Which ones? Sorry, but I think any opportunity for a peaceful transition to a democratic national government left the station a long time ago. If we had secured the peace and followed an agenda that was truely based on autonomous, democratic rule for Iraq...maybe things would have been different. But we had other interests, namely, co-opting their natural resources. So we never were really serious about letting Iraq be Iraq. I really hope I'm wrong, but I see 3 major countries in the region with interests in Iraq that are not mutually inclusive. As society continues to breakdown in this country, people will gravitate towards the warlords and power brokers that reflect their cultural identity...Shia, Sunni, Kurds. Maybe I'm wrong and they'll subvert their cultural/religious identification for a united Iraqi government, but I'm more pessimistic that this can happen by the day. Nothing will change in Iraq until we change our government here. Who knows where the country of Iraq will be in 18 months?

[Betsy Ross]

9. Our "allies" in Turkey will have none of it.

They are having their own trouble with separatist Kurds. Giving them a defined region in Iraq will only increase the pressure on Turkey to do the same.

[Quixote1818]

12. You didn't read the article did you?

He is suggesting keeping it one country but with three regions. That would not break our treaty with Turkey.

[BlooInBloo]

15. i THINK what the other guy means is....

... that a defined Kurdish area made out of a piece of "Iraq" would lead to the Kurds in Turkey wanting to join with the formed-from-"Iraq" folks, thus leading to a fissure in Turkey. Presumably, the non-Kurdish turks aren't so hot about that idea, it being tantamount to seccession.


EDIT: Apologies for the erroneous gender in my title.

[KoKo]

10. You GO! Biden! "If at first it doesn't succeed ...try...try...AGAIN! You

Got the Dem Nomination for SURE with THIS ONE....Go Joe and let your South Carolina Money Bags fund you OTT!

Hey! Hey! Hey! And isn't your son Beau Biden just waiting to carry the Dem TORCH! Maybe you have some other relatives that you can bring in for "Foreign Policy/Fed/Homeland Security/Commerce" and the other Regulatory Agencies.

BushCo has given the GREEN LIGHT so BRING IT ON! He's set the Stage for IMPERIAL/CRONY/NEPOTISTIC GOVERNMENT!

Bring on the DLC DEMS. Maybe it can be BIDEN/LIEBERMAN...BIDEN/BAYH (that's a "catchy one" sure to resonate with the voters...BB FOREVER!!!)

:puke:

[NNN0LHI]

13. At least he has got past "the window is closing" bull shiite n/t

[leftchick]

16. and "more troops" BS

<sigh>

[zulchzulu]

17. It's a good idea...except for a couple things...

The Shites would get a lot of oil fields while the Sunnis wouldn't and the Turks would love an independent Kurdish state to invade and steal their resources...

Making Iraq into pre-1920 British nations would just turn the clock back a little...and a civil war would continue no matter what.

[Neil Lisst]

21. Iraq is a country created by Britain 100 years ago.

So there is no reason to treat it like it needs to be one country.

Kurds want self rule.

Sunnis want self rule.

Shia want self rule.

It's not a new idea that Biden has proposed, but it is a good one.

Of course, Turkey opposes the Kurdish state, and the Kurds and Sunnis would be land locked with no ports to the gulf.