Beckett Acknowledges Possible Breakup Of Iraq Into Three Separate States

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The possible breakup of Iraq into three separate states was acknowledged for the first time by Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett yesterday as she scaled back expectations of what could be achieved before British and American forces leave.

The growing pessimism in Whitehall over the prospects for Iraq’s future came as the country’s deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, urged Britain and America not to “cut and run.”

Mrs. Beckett, after talks in London with Mr. Salih, accepted that the invasion of Iraq might come to be judged as a “foreign policy disaster” for Britain. When asked on BBC Radio 4’s “The World at One” if historians would hold that view, she said: “Yes, they may. Then again, they may not.”

Mrs. Beckett said it was important now for Iraqis to unite behind their democratically elected government. In the longer term, she added, it was up to Iraqis to decide for themselves whether they wanted to continue as a single state.

“They have had enough of people from outside handing down arbitrary boundaries and arbitrary decisions,” she said.

Pressed on whether it would be a disaster if Iraq split, she said: “If that is what they want and they feel it is workable, that is another matter.”

A bill partitioning Iraq into its three main regions — the Kurdish north, the predominantly Sunni central area, and the mainly Shiite South — is before the country’s Parliament. Advisers to President Bush have floated the idea in Washington, but the British government has previously insisted that it is not on the agenda.

Mrs. Beckett’s unguarded remarks will be seen as an indication that a radical rethink is under way behind the scenes in government despite the public assurances from Mr. Blair and other ministers that Britain will stay “until the job is done.”

Pressure for an “exit strategy” is growing on both sides of the Atlantic as result of the upsurge in violence in Iraq. The toll of American casualties in Iraq this month rose to 86 with the announcement that six more servicemen had been killed.

A series of bombs, mortar attacks, and assassinations also killed 12 Iraqis and wounded a further 35. Eight bodies with gunshot wounds were found in Baghdad overnight.

Downing Street insisted that Mrs. Beckett’s comments were reaffirming that the wishes of the government of Iraq should be “sovereign.” No. 10 said there was no sign that the Iraqi government was contemplating breaking up the country. After talks with Tony Blair, Mr. Salih said it was important that the international forces in Iraq did not “cut and run.” But he acknowledged that British and American troops could not remain in his country indefinitely.

“We understand this cannot be an open-ended commitment by the international community. It is up to the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government to establish security,” he said.

Downing Street said Mr. Blair assured Mr. Salih that Britain intended to hold its nerve in Iraq. Officials denied that Mr. Blair had pressed for assurances that Iraqi forces could take over policing southern Iraq within a year.

More than 60% of voters want 7,000 British troops out of Iraq by the end of the year whatever state Iraq is in, according to an ICM poll for the Guardian.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, backed Tory calls for the government to give MPs a “frank assessment” of the changing situation in Iraq.


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