“A united Iraq: What’s the point?”

Iraqi leaders have a tentative constitution but they have not answered a fundamental question: Does Iraq really exist as a nation? The Kurds and Shiites negotiate between them leaving the Arab Sunnis aside which increases divisions. Washington wants to build a new Iraq but it spends blood and money to preserve a country that no longer exists. Iraq would be closer to democracy if everyone would reject the fiction of a unified Iraq. However, the United States finds it hard to admit that countries disintegrate. Washington resisted the collapse of the Soviet Union into separate republics and today it is trying to hold Afghanistan – and also Iraq – as one country. However, that policy already failed in Haiti and in Somalia. The only exception is Yugoslavia.
Since 1945, democratization has been accompanied by an increase in the number of countries. There are more democracies and there are more states. Economists say that it is hard to preserved larger states united and that they are useful to guarantee security. When the threat of wars among nations recedes and commercial agreements develop, the number of states increases. By supplying security and supporting free trade in Iraq, the United States are promoting the fragmentation of the country.
The difficulties that have plagued the creation of an Iraqi constitution should make the United States reconsider its policy in Iraq. The fact that the United States became a nation through a constitution does not mean that it should become a general rule.