Jan. 12, 2007 - 18:09 MST

MAKES TOO MUCH SENSE

Occasionally a glimmer of light shows on the horizon. An article by Cokie and Steven V. Roberts of the United Feature Syndicate seems to indicate that we have at least one thoughtful senator with a working brain in Washington D. C.

Here it is in full :

BIDEN'S IDEA OF SPLITTING IRAQ IN THREE HAS ITS POINTS

"When Saddam Hussein was hanged, no one in the unruly crowd shouted "Long live Iraq !" or mentioned the president of the country, Nouri al-Maliki. Instead they chanted "Muqtada ! Muqtada ! Muqtada !" The name of the radical Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr."

"That moment symbolizes the dismal failure of President Bush's attempts to strengthen the central government in Baghdad and reconcile Iraq's warring factions. His latest "way forward" -- more troops, more aid, more resolve by the Maliki government -- is almost certainly doomed as well, and for one simple reason: There is no national identity in Iraq, no loyalty to a common national purpose."

"American soldiers are fighting and dying every day under a flag they believe in. but that's not true for their Iraqi counterparts. Like the guards at the hanging, Iraqis are devoted to their tribes, to their religious groups, to individual chieftains like Muqtada. Not to their country."

"That's why it's time to consider seriously an idea put forward by Sen. Joseph Biden, the new chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Under his plan, Iraq would be divided into three self-governing regions, each dominated by a single group: Kurds in the north, Shiites in the south, and Sunnis in the middle. Baghdad would become a federal zone, the seat of a national government, with limited powers over foreign affairs, border security and oil revenue."

"More than 22,000 Iraqis were killed last year (according to Iraqi Health Ministry), most of them because of their ethnic or religious identity, and if anything, the sectarian violence is getting worse. The only way to stop the carnage is to keep these blood rivals apart."

"Sure, this plan has many flaws. But here's the harsh truth: There are no good ideas for cleaning up the mess in Iraq. Every proposal can be shot full of holes. What we're talking about now is the least bad outcome."

"For democracy to work, people have to be loyal to their nations not their tribe, they have to be able to trust the winners to play fairly, use power wisely, treat minorities decently, and leave office if they lose. Today, none of those conditions are present in Iraq, so a functioning democracy on a national scale is not possible. But it might be possible on a regional scale."

"In a New York Times piece, Biden pointed out that a decade ago, Bosnia was "torn apart by ethnic cleansing and facing its demise as a single country." The Dayton accords stabilized conditions by "dividing it into ethnic federations, even allowing Muslims, Croats and Serbs to retain their separate armies." Today Bosnia enjoys a "relative peace" and recently disbanded its tribal militias."

"Another example is Greece and Turkey, countries we know well. For hundreds of years, both harbored minorities of the other ethnic group. Constant tension finally flared into violence after World War I, but in 1923, the two nations agreed to a huge exchange of populations. It was a bitter and costly decision, but for the last 84 years the border between Greece and Turkey has largely remained calm."

"If Iraqis can't live together without killing each other, let them live separately. It might well be the least bad outcome outcome available."

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And if that plan is adopted there will be many complications, especially concerning the private lives of those who inhabit that beleaguered country. It's a plan that can be completely screwed up by those trying to accomplish such a thing. But, as Cokie and Steven point out it is the "least bad solution" by far.

Exchanging populations and those people picking their own leaders is a mind boggling operation. And along with that, it seems to me that from what I have seen on TV and read in the papers, the birthplace of civilization is a dry, desert now. So what of the people who will be put out in the desert ? Where will their food and water come from ?

Just like in the schoolyard, the first thing is to separate those fighting and go from there.

Will this plan be adopted ? I doubt it 'cause it MAKES TOO MUCH SENSE . . . . . . . . . . . .

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