Should Iraq Be Partitioned?

Stephen Schwartz says no. Schwartz’s conclusion:

Ultimately, such policies cannot be decided from inside the Beltway. The future of Iraq remains with the Iraqis. It is somewhat strange to see experts in a place once identified with “realism” and the status quo, and now, often enough, with a critique of neoconservative democratization, suddenly embrace a plan for the partition of Iraq. Take it from someone who has spent 20 years involved with ex-Yugoslavia: partition is potentially more radical and destructive than democratization would ever be.

I do not quite see how the West can decide partition Iraq, without the approval of the, you know, Iraqis themselves. Of course, such a solution could work, but only if Iraqis themselves support it. Not because we in the West think that it will work.