Iraq has become the sum of 3 parts

It is increasingly evident that the national identity of Iraq has crumbled into a lawless society entrenched in a civil war that is progressively worsening. According to the UN, more than 34,000 Iraqis were killed in sectarian violence in 2006, almost three times the number reported by the Iraqi government. Iraqi nationalism has withered away and has been replaced by newly formed religious extremists. It is imperative that we acknowledge that quickly as the essential premise for constructing a solution.

Make no mistake: The solution to the Iraq quagmire is political and not military. Sending additional American troops will only delay the inevitable— Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds are unable, nor do they desire, to live side by side in one nation.

Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq authoritatively but secularly for decades. His forced removal created the political vacuum that is manifesting itself today. The current government, consisting of and supported by the Shiite majority, is relatively weak and viewed suspiciously by the Kurds in the north and despised by the vast majority of the Sunnis.

Although heavily protected by the U.S. military, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has very limited control outside the green zone.

Beyond the zone, Iraqis continue to suffer and are resigned that the situation is dire. Sending in 20,000 additional U.S. troops will not make a difference in a heavily armed and polarized nation of 28 million. One must wonder how al-Maliki and his successors will control Iraq once the U.S. withdraws its troops.

Beyond the civil unrest, Iraq is experiencing serious brain drain, and unless the situation changes fast, it could become permanent. Physicians, engineers, professors, teachers and entrepreneurs are in short supply. The professional sector is fleeing the nation. About a million have moved to Jordan, and more than 600,000 have relocated to Syria. This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands who have been forced to emigrate, seeking safety and a better life for their families in the West.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) has argued that Iraq should be divided into three ethnic federations, similar to the Bosnian model. The proposal should be a blueprint for three largely autonomous regions that will give the three major groups of Iraq the right to govern themselves.

Iraqis are already subscribing unofficially to this strategy. Sunnis are already moving— forcefully in some cases— out of Shiite neighborhoods. In the Kurdish north, for more than a decade, the Kurds have been behaving as a separate nation. Their allegiance to Iraq is little more than window dressing.

It is in the interest of every civilized nation that the Iraq fiasco be solved. For the U.S. to pull out at this stage would be a tremendous mistake. A full-blown civil war would be a certainty. Other countries with vested interests may be drawn in. Containing Iraq and defusing its sectarian tension has to be the focal point of the solution. With international support, the division of Iraq may be a drastic but realistic outcome. It succeeded in Bosnia, and there is a reasonable probability that it will work in Iraq. The military strategy has failed thus far, and the alternatives are grim.

The success of such a proposal will rest on an international conference with all of Iraq's bordering neighbors, including Iran and Syria, participating.

The failure of such a convening will only delay the inevitable— an escalated, bloody civil war with the potential for genocide that could spill into the region and further destabilize the Middle East. Time is running out.