The Three-State Solution

Writing for the New York Times, Leslie H. Gelb has a solution for the war in Iraq. That’s right, a solution. He says that Iraq is actually three countries that never belonged together, in the first place. They never chose to be married, so let’s give ‘em a divorce.

It makes way too much sense for me to think George Bush will see the wisdom in Gelb’s strategy. The Bushies don’t seem to be much interested in more than using Iraq to make fast money for their friends and holding onto power.

So, if Bush can’t/won’t use Gelb’s advice, I hope a smart Democrat like Wes Clark or Howard Dean will pick up on it: “The Three-State Solution.”

Here’s a sample of Gelb’s essay:

The only viable strategy, then, may be to correct the historical defect and move in stages toward a three-state solution: Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center and Shiites in the south. Almost immediately, this would allow America to put most of its money and troops where they would do the most good quickly — with the Kurds and Shiites. The United States could extricate most of its forces from the so-called Sunni Triangle, north and west of Baghdad, largely freeing American forces from fighting a costly war they might not win. American officials could then wait for the troublesome and domineering Sunnis, without oil or oil revenues, to moderate their ambitions or suffer the consequences.