US 'plans to split Iraq into three regions'

Sources have revealed that an independent commission set up by the US congress may propose dividing Iraq up into three separate regions, UK based newspaper The Times reported on Sunday.

The report, which is being prepared by the Iraq Study Group with the approval of President George W Bush, is preparing to report after next month's congressional elections amid signs that sectarian violence and attacks on coalition forces are ever increasing and threatening to spiral out of control.

“The Kurds already effectively have their own area,'' a source close to the group, told The Times, “The federalisation of Iraq is going to take place one way or another. The challenge for the Iraqis is how to work that through.''

However, former senior US statesman James Baker told ABC television on Sunday that he thought the idea would end in further civil turmoil. "If we do that, that in itself will trigger a huge civil war because the major cities in Iraq are mixed," said Baker.

"The minute you say you're going to do that and make three autonomous regions, you're likely you're likely to kick off a big civil war," said Baker.

"There's no way to draw lines between Sunnis, Shiite and Kurds in the major cities of Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk. And furthermore, there are no boundaries between the Sunni areas and the Shiite areas in Iraq," said Baker a former secretary of state under US President George Herbert Walker Bush.

"The minute you say you're going to do that and make three autonomous regions, you're likely to kick off a big civil war," said Baker.

Baker said, "What we're going to come up, hopefully, with some recommendations that the Congress and the president and the country can look at. We're going to make it public the day we present it to the president," he said.