Iraq in last Throes as Kurdistan Seeks Independence

Secretary of State John Kerry’s mission to Baghdad and Irbil appears to be a bust. He is alleged to have told the political class in Baghdad that they’d have to dump Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki if they want American aid, and that they’d have to form a government of national unity and make a place at the table for the Sunni Arabs. There is no sign that his jeremiads were taken seriously.

It is even reported that Nouri al-Maliki assured Kerry that he could form a government by the beginning of July.
Al-Maliki wasn’t listening. Kerry doesn’t just want a new government of national unity, he wants al-Maliki gone.
Then Kerry flew up to Irbil, the capital of the Kurdistan superprovince of Iraq. It had consisted of three former provinces of Iraq. But the Kurds have added a fourth, Kirkuk Province, and part of a fifth (northeast Diyala Province) to their semi-autonomous region (think Quebec on steroids). MORE