I believe that the best way to bring peace and stability to Iraq may be to partition it into three separate countries.
Consider the parallels between the former Yugoslavia and Iraq. Yugoslavia was made up of a variety of ethnic and religious groups including Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Serb, Croat, Albanian, etc. Iraq is of course made up primarily of Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites. Both in recent times where held together by totalitarian regimes. Both during their history for various political reasons have had their ethnic groups intermixed. And both after a disruption in the status quo devolved into horrible ethnic violence.
For now the nations and provinces of the former Yugoslavia are in relative peace. After trying to hold Yugoslavia together for years the outside brokers decided implement a plan of breaking it up into smaller countries and semiautonomous regions in an orderly fashion and for now there is relative peace in this part of the world.
Facilitating an orderly partitioning of Iraq may be the best option for peace there as well.
Some arguments against this:
1 - Many people would be forced to give up there homes and move. This is already happening at a rate of about 50,000 per month at gun point and with no compensation for the loss of people’s homes and property. If this were handled in an orderly fashion people could be compensated for the home’s they are leaving and that money could be used to help them get started in more friendly environs.
2 – One of our allies, Turkey, is against it. We should never take lightly the concerns of allies. At the same time our leaders should consider all options and if Turkey is the only reason we would not do what might be the best thing to solve the problems in Iraq, I think we would all agree that Turkey’s concerns should not stop us.
More research and thought should be given before implementing a plan like this. It may not be the right answer. However, it is an option that deserves serious consideration and we should challenge our leaders to consider this as perhaps the best way to work out of the Iraq situation.
http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004CE90B/(httpCountries)/718916EEB6743EEF802570A7004CB9B9?OpenDocument
http://www.brookings.edu/views/op-ed/ohanlon/20070108.htm
2 comments:
Thanks for the comment Chad. I think this idea has merit. We should should negotiate a concrete proposal with all the stakeholders and put it to a vote. I have no reason to believe that the Iraqis would not accept a well reasoned planned.
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