Do you believe New“National Strategy for Victory in Iraq”

sounds about right.........if enough iraqis and US soliders are killed surely everyhting will work out........

It's dobutful that the Bush plan will work no matter if we stay there one year, five years, or fifty years. The disparate peoples of Iraq were held together by a brutal dictator, and that's what it will take to keep it together. The Soviet Union broke up after the dictatorships ended. Czechoslovakia broke up after the USSR relinquished it's control. Yugoslavia broke up into six or so states after the brutal dictator Tito died.

Why does anyone think that the Kurds, the sunnis, and the shiites have or want a strong national identity as Iraqis?

good question .....I think the Sunnis and Shites have a strong arab identity the Kurds on the hand not being arabs tend to want to go their own way, if they do it will have a knock on effect on Turkey which is big NATO player and alley of the US.

Should the Kurds be encourage in that directions the Turk will hold the uS responsible.

It is not a reasonable assumption that the Shi'ites necessarily identify with Arabs. They identify the Sunni as Arabs, and as their persecutors. For whatever they may allege about their ethnic origins, they have the most affinity with the Persians--being the only large Shi'ite nation in the world.

Yes, the shiites are close to the Iranians and have the most to gain from a strong centran Iraq government since they undoubtedly form the majority. The Sunnis have the most to lose since they are the minority, and they would probably subscribe to semi-autonomous Iraqi regions so long as they would be guaranteed a share of the oil revenues.

Peter Galbraith is a competent spokesperson for the viability of a split Iraq with semi-autonomous regions comprised of the various factions and a weak central government overseeing the distribution of oil revenues, among other things. There are many websites citing Galbraith, but here is one essay clearly outlining his plan:

sent. that is a very funny quote in your signature...........LOL