Some years ago I blogged here about the possibility (probability?) that the ultimate fate of Iraq, following the example of the sometime nation of Yugoslavia, would be to become divided, like Caesar's Gaul, into three parts, one in the south for the Shiites, one in the west for the Sunnis, and one in the north for the separate Kurdish ethnic group. Apparently Senator Joe Biden somewhat later came up with the same idea, not as a regrettable potential result of the stresses and strains afflicting the nation of Iraq but as a consummation devoutly to be wished. Now Biden has apparently convinced the U.S. Senate, desparately struggling to find some way out of Bush's ill-conceived intervention in that unfortunate country, to take up the idea and pass a nonbinding measure (75-23 -- I'd love to know who voted against) to "federalize" (i.e. break up) the country.
I still think that this is probably the unfortunate destiny of modern Iraq. But, ultimately, that is for the Iraqis, not the U.S. Senate or any other arm of the U.S. government, to decide. They may yet get their act together and rebuild a strong Iraq.
The Iraqis themselves are not particularly happy with the Senate's bill, and who can blame them? After all, if the Chinese parliament voted to make California independent of the United States, I doubt whether many Americans, including my fellow Californians, would be particularly enthused by the idea. The fate of Iraq is, after all, Iraq's to determine, not Washington's.