If you can't Beat 'Em, Balkanize 'Em

[michaelvail]

ENATOR JOE BIDEN wants to save Iraq by dividing it–sort of. The speech Biden delivered Wednesday morning to the Council on Foreign Relations elaborated on the "five-point plan" he first laid out in a New York Times op-ed (co-written with CFR president emeritus Leslie Gelb) last May. Biden spoke soberly, intelligently, and persuasively. His proposal is deeply flawed. But unlike many Democrats who simply carp and criticize, Biden is offering a genuine strategy for stabilizing Iraq prior to U.S. withdrawal.

Using Bosnia as a rough template, the thrust of the Biden plan is simple: Iraq would be carved into three mostly autonomous regions–a Kurdish north, a Sunni center, and a Shiite south. Each region would be responsible for its own internal security and its own domestic laws. Iraq's federal government would handle issues of "common interest," such as oil revenues, border defense, and foreign policy. Although technically within the Sunni bit of the country, Baghdad would remain a multiethnic city. "The Iraqi constitution calls for Baghdad to be the unified capital," said Biden.

http://www.thought-criminal.org/2006/09/21/if-you-cant-beat-em-balkanize-em/

[FoxOnTheRun]

1. It's Bernard Lewis and an old plan from the 80's