Maybe we should split up Iraq

Tonio

Tonio

Asperger's Poster Child
From my reading of post-World War I history, the British and French really messed up the boundaries of Europe and the Middle East. They had this thing for combining disparate ethnic groups in order to create nations, like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Iraq was no different--it was an amalgam of Kurd, Shiite and Sunni territory, and to this day the three groups have problems getting along. I've seen a few suggestions that the US should rebalkanize Iraq into three countries.

Certainly the Kurds would like that--the British and French hinted that they might create an independent Kurdistan from the leavings of the Ottoman Empire. Instead, they screwed the Kurds by parceling their land to Iran, Iraq and Turkey. If the US were to carve a Kurdistan from Iraq, however, that might upset our allies in Turkey who have dealt with restless Kurds in that country.
 
Hessian

Hessian

Well-Known Member
It's possible....

That we are still living with the legacy of WWI.
Tonio has an interesting point-my problem is that the balkanization of the Austro-Hungarian empire was NOT a quick & painless success. (lingering well into the 1990's right?)

It would be worth considering but I can't imagine that it would be a quick fix.
Would Kurdistan become a new sponge of radicals drawn from Turkey or elsewhere? Perhaps the Sunni would not want to be parcelled into the smallest portion? Would Iran be willing to gobble up the Shiite section?

Very intriguing....bet this plan is sitting in some CIA/Council on Foreign affairs file cabinet
 
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