The possibility of partition of Iraq is being talked abour more and more these days. My own opinion, for what it's worth, has always been that Washington [as is] has all along tended to favour the Kurds in the North, and would look very kindly indeed on the formation of a Kurdish state encompassing the lion's share of the oil resource. That they haven' dared as yet to actively advocate this is--again in my humble opinion---wariness of the Turkish reaction as much as any increase in the violence now evident in Iraq. Just conjecture; time will tell if my suspicions are justified. Hope I'm 'way off the mark; there's enough excuse for mayhem in that unfortunate land as it is.