News today--24 Sept 2006--the Iraqi parliament has decided to put off for at least 18 months any decision on federalizing Iraq--for exactly the reason I brought up last year--the Sunni fear that semi-autonomous regions would mean the Sunni-dominated section of Iraq (including Baghdad--Baghdad population of course being mixed sectarian groups) would be left without much oil.

The northern area --(de facto Kurdistan)--will be semi-autonomous--no matter what the Iraqi parliament eventually decides--after all, they had been so since the Gulf War. Status of the oil-rich Kirkuk area is still to be thrashed out.

The question is whether the Shiite south will also just decide to become semi-autonomous --without any input from the parliament--and whether Sunnis will have much of a say in the "national" government.

If they feel they don't, the civil war will do nothing but worsen.

And nobody here was in favor of Saddam's tyranny--contrary to the slander by some Bushites----but I've just read some estimates that the use of torture in Iraq is now worse than under Saddam.