Excuse me. May I carve up your country?

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Leslie Gelb of the Council on Foreign Relations are proposing a solution for Iraq that involves dividing the country into Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish regions, leaving a small central government, leaving some U.S. troops, and increasing reconstruction aid.

I see a couple of problems with this. First, it's not nice for America to be talking about cutting up other people's countries. It's proposals like this that give the United States a reputation of arrogance in the world. If the proposal is a good one, it needs to come from Baghdad, not Washington.

Biden and Gelb have a list of people they say have praised the plan, but I had to scroll down pretty far before finally finding an Iraqi on the list. Iraqi national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie is quoted as having said last May: "I think the Biden idea is a good idea, with some modifications." I don't see anyone else from Iraq jumping on board the proposal, and I don't see al-Rubaie bringing up the subject more recently.

A second problem is that it's not clear how dividing the country will lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops. I suppose the idea is that when everyone has their own land and a share of the oil revenue, they will be happy and content and order will be restored.

People are strange, though. They are rarely content with what they are given. At least not for very long. They usually find a reason to try and take more. I think we may end up paying for a few "separation barriers" if we go with this plan.

In any event, the proposal should be a non-starter as long as it is originating in Washington. If Sen. Biden wants to pursue this, he needs to withdraw his proposal and then talk to the Iraqis about making their own proposal along these lines.