Iraq

[Rhisiart]

Time to split the country into three?

Yes, the Sunnis won't like it as they may end up with the bit of land with the least oil.

However, as they seem to have given everyone the hardest time, maybe it would be justice.

The coalition forces and other tribes may have blood on their hands, but the Sunni insurgents/Ba'athist/Al Quada 'triad' have been far the most brutal*.

[*I am sure everyone knows, the Ba'ath party was always largely made up of Sunnis, Furthermore, Al Quada hate the Shias].

[ora]

Well it was a made up country in the fist place, a Brit invention to help carve up the mid-east. Might work on some level to break it into 3 but equally there would be major arguments about natural resources.

Also, I know the Turks may object to a Kurdish state on their border, when they've been trying to stop an ethnic Kurdish state appearing from since the days of Ataturk, rather they want a national Turkish state.

[CaptainQuark]

I'm with Rhisiart on that one.

The British invention of Iraq after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WWI, knocking together Mosul, Mesopotamia and Basra has caused nothing but trouble since the 1920s!

[AhhChoo]

Originally Posted by rhisiart

Time to split the country into three?

Is it time for WHO to split up Iraq? The US? The UK? The US installed puppet Iraqi "government"? Is it the right of ANY outside forces to split that country up?
Iraq did not really have a history of internecine/factional fighting prior to the 2003 invasion and occupation. The current intra-Iraqi carnage was intentionally and surreptitiously instigated by occupying forces who now see to it that it continues(divide and conquer.....the more Iraqis fight amonst themselves, the less focus they can bring to unifying and fighting the forces of occupation).
Remember the incident when British troops dressed in Arab garb and carrying explosives were apprehended by Iraqi police?
It's up to the Iraqi people themselves and no one else to decide the future of their country. That can't happen until occupying forces leave, and, perhaps, some form of peace keeping group indigenous to the Middle East and acceptable to the Iraqis is put into place.

[reed]

Pulling out is frustrating but so is making an unwanted child. Either way there will be triplets. Who the father will be is another question. Certain folks are going to look away when she pushes the pram....or prams. Like Israel and Palestine there will be no guilty party. Only "Parties."
Ch. de Gaulle once said concering such matters (though less dramatic) in his own country... "Vaste programme"
What's the latest update "over there" by the way? SIGH!

[Rhisiart]

Originally Posted by AhhChoo

Is it the right of ANY outside forces to split that country up?

No, I don't think it is. You're right. It's up to the Iraqi people. But perhaps there is no harm in suggesting the idea. It might be a solution.

The Iraq war has been an unmitigated disaster on the same scale as Vietnam. However, your statement that there was no infighting before the invasion needs closer inspection.

The Sunni Ba’athists, which have always been a minority in Iraq, brutalised the Kurds in the north and the Shias in the south for over twenty years.

What Bush and Blair failed to realise is that if you cut off the head of the Ba’athist party (i.e. Saddam), it then grows a thousand new heads.

[eric2006]

Originally Posted by rhisiart

Time to split the country into three?

For a second there, I thought you were talking about the US. It sure seems like people want to sometimes.

[Rhisiart]

Originally Posted by eric2006

For a second there, I thought you were talking about the US. It sure seems like people want to sometimes.

Actually a Welsh military invasion of the US is planned for next March (subject to approval from the local vicar). We intend to split the US into 50 parts. We think this could be revolutionary.