by Robert C. Sage

Created on: September 02, 2007

The only viable resolution to the civil war in Iraq is a surge in diplomacy to negotiate a partition of Iraq into autonomous regions or states with effective sovereignty over their respective lands in cooperation with all regional powers and all interested parties. Clearly, the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds reject being ruled by anyone but their respective peoples. Most of Iraq is dominated and controlled by one of these 3 groups. Each has greater control over more territory than the central government or the US and its coalition of invaders.

The reality on the ground in Iraq is that the vast majority of the locals, except perhaps in Kurdistan (the Kurds have no protectors other than the US) want the US to be gone. They want to determine their own future without having to get approvals from Washington, D.C. If the only things standing in the way of partitioning is American pride and the desire of the Shiites and Sunnis to dominate, then let's proclaim victory, negotiate an acceptable system of balanced relationships among the 3 groups and their protectors and then get out of the way, if that is what they want. If the Iraqis insist that they want to maintain a unified Iraq, then we need to step aside to let them settle their differences and work things out. America should not accept being forced into overseeing a slow boil of long festering sectarian differences.

Sure the Shiites will develop close relations with Iran, which they already have. There is no avoiding what is inevitable and already reality. In turn, the Sunnis have natural allies in the many Sunni dominated states of the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and others. They can and should decide this amongst themselves. However, the Kurds are likely to need on-going defensive support from outside the region, although that is for them to decide. Self-determination should be the central principle and American prerequisites should be limited to receiving commitments of each to disavow terrorism and to respect the borders that are set between the regions.

Clearly, America and our coalition have done our best to hold Iraq together as a unified nation, but given the civil war, any reasonable analyst must conclude that the Bush policy has not unified the Iraqis. Already the War in Iraq is estimated to have cost about $3,000 US per every American and there is no end in sight. What has it accomplished other than enriching a few corporations, causing hundreds of thousands to be killed and creating millions

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