Who Wants an Iraq in Thirds?

Sen. Joe Biden's plan to divide Iraq into three parts appears to be gaining ground. The Delaware Democrat wants to semi-autonomous regions — a Shiite one centered on Basra in the south, a Sunni one centered on Baghdad in the interior, and a Kurdish one centered on Mosul in the north. Last month, the Senate backed a nonbinding measure calling for this federal approach by 75 to 23.

A thinker like David Cuthell, executive director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, sees in Biden's strategy a certain kind of sense. "If you go back and look at an Ottoman map, these are the three areas," Cuthell says. "There's an internal and cultural logic to it."

But Cuthell also sees danger in Biden's plan. More on that after the bump.

 

Aside from the Shiites' somewhat limited interest in the plan, he says, the Kurds are the biggest fans of partition. Protected by a no-fly zone after the Persian Gulf War, the Kurds managed to set up a stable government — a safe haven after the attacks by Saddam Hussein. (Tough pictures from the State Department here)

But it's not just Kurds inside Iraq who want a separate state; Kurds across the border in Turkey, want independence, too, and would likely want to join the new Kurdish state. They're not necessarily waiting around for a diplomatic solution. And that's got Turkish officials threatening to cross the border into northern Iraq, in pursuit of Kurdish rebels whom they say have killed 15 Turkish troops since Sunday.

Cuthell says it's almost as if a group of Mexican-Americans living in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona decided they wanted to break away and become part of Mexico again. If they took up arms, he says, "we'd be all over them with tanks and everything."