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In a recent report, The Fund for Peace (FfP) urges the
international community to begin exploring a new negotiated
settlement in Iraq based on greater autonomy for the country's
regions or peaceful partition of the country. The current trend
toward full scale civil war is documented in the three year
summary report, "From Failed State to Civil War: The Lebanization
of Iraq, 2003-2006."
Dr. Pauline H. Baker, author of the report, says:
"The center is not holding in Iraq. We can no longer pretend that
a weak central government can reverse these worsening trends. The
deterioration has gone too far. The nature and scope of violence,
factionalization within and between the major groups, the proliferation
of militias, and intensifying group vengeance and fear of retribution
are driving Iraq into de facto partition. We must face these facts."
The Fund calls for an international conference convened by the
UN and Iraq to consider a wider regional settlement involving Iraq's
neighbors and other Arab states, all of whom have a vital stake
in not allowing the country to descend into chaos. It may be a
long shot, the report concludes, but fresh options need to be
put on the table to avoid the violent splintering of Iraq, an
outcome that would trigger wider regional conflict.
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