3) Do you think and independent, democratic Iraq existing in a modern Middle East is possible?

Dr. Ottaway:
"Not in the foreseeable future. The country is too divided at present. The politics of Iraq is determined by sectarian identities. History show that when sectarian identities are mobilized, they do not lose their salience easily. The argument that Iraqis happily lived together in the past, that they intermarried, etc, is irrelevant. First, it is only partly accurate--there was intermarriage but also a lot of hostility. Furthermore, that was then, and now conflicting identities are mobilized. That is why a highly decentralized state is the best that can be expected."

Dr. Bahry:
"It is possible if the previous conditions discussed are realized. Democratic can't mean one-man, one-vote. International groups and political parties (like the socialist party, communist party) which recruit on non-sectarian basis should be involved.

"Dividing Iraq into three parts in not a good idea, because you cannot handle distribution of oil reserves.revenues. Historically, it is one state and it should not be divided. It is very difficult to exploit the oil resources and use those resources if there is no collaboration by the parts of Iraq and a central government that is strong enough to oversee the oil operation. Libya was established as a federation. Later its government was strengthened because it was not able to appropriately handle the oil business.

"Water is more valuable that oil. Iraq also depends on water resources and they come from Turkey and Syria through the Kurdish territory. If there is a division of Iraq then you will have a war of water because you could have blockage of water to other territories."