Shocking

According to a story in the Independent, local officials are talking about how to divide up Iraq, under the assumption that current sectarian violence spells the end of the current national entity.

"Iraq as a political project is finished," a senior government official was quoted as saying, adding: "The parties have moved to plan B." He said that the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parties were now looking at ways to divide Iraq between them and to decide the future of Baghdad, where there is a mixed population. "There is serious talk of Baghdad being divided into [Shia] east and [Sunni] west," he said.

Although all the groups are part of the current government in Iraq, some are rooting for the insurgents, others eyeing Iran, and generally there's no telling how it will end up -- the situation has gotten a lot worse while the rest of the world has had their attention on Israel and Lebanon...

(via This Modern World)