And I have said many times that "Kurdistan" will not declare independence for the very reason that the Kurds don't want to give Turkey an excuse to invade. They are smart enough to be satisfied with de facto independence--de jure can wait for the forseeable future.

And Bush does not in fact have "all the power". He has remarkably little in determining internal Iraqi politics.   What he hopes is that al-Qaeda will continue to kill both Shiites and Sunnis indiscriminately--as they are doing in Anbar----that's the only thing that will make a US presence desirable.

Also, you have no basis for your assertion that a Sunni secular state would be easier to do business with than a religious Shiite state. Both would be willing to do oil business--oil is obviously the main source of income for Iraq. And dreaming about a Sunni-run Iraq is just that--huge numbers of middle-class Sunnis have fled Iraq--and the (Shiite) majority will rule--regardless of what Bush might want. And in fact he doesn't care--all he wants is a fig-leaf--some feeble excuse to declare victory and leave.

As I've said before, all he wants to do now is find some way to avoid admitting his Iraq venture was a stupid tragic mistake. This is logical--and obvious..

Any other speculation is just an absurd conspiracy theory---unless somebody can come up with some evidence to support it. Thus far there has been none.