Thanks so much for yet another meaningless article, Dickey. So the Kurds were happy to see the invasion of Iraq. This is a revelation? I like apple pie. I expect you do too. Am I right--or are you a subversive defeatist who doesn't like it?

And as I've said before, "Kurdistan"--with Kirkuk and its oil-- which they will probably have by the end of this year---- is likely to be the fall-back position for the US. It's turning more and more Western-oriented--and secular--though Teribus chooses not to see this.

But that is no solution for Iraq--in fact may be a serious danger. If the Kurds in "Kurdistan" insist on continuing to make separate oil deals without regard to the Baghdad government--which they are now doing--and especially if they start withholding oil revenue from the central government, what is to stop the Shiites in the south from pushing for a similar arrangement?

If that happens, so much for any chance for Iraq as a unified state.

And the US has precious little influence to prevent any of this.