Is Iraq ever going to have a functioning state at peace with itself? “

I generally believe it is ungovernable under the current construct,” said Ali Khedery, an American former official in Iraq who served as an aide to several ambassadors and generals.Mr. Khedery said that a confederacy or a partition of Iraq might be the only remedy for the country’s troubles. He called it “an imperfect solution for an imperfect world.”

Mr. Khedery is now a sharp critic of American policy in Iraq, saying it has consistently ignored the realities of the country’s underlying political problems. Iraq, he said, “is a violent, dysfunctional marriage, and we keep pouring American lives and dollars into it, hoping for a miracle. We should instead seek to broker an amicable separation or divorce that results in self-determination for Iraq’s fractious communities.”

nytimes.com