When I was young, my mom would want us to eat Neapolitan ice cream that had three flavors glued together: vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. We children would argue over who would get which bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Each of us sitting around the table carefully eying the size of the portions. The strawberry ice cream was left to my parents whether they wanted it or not. There were always fights on whose serving was bigger or who got more chocolate.
The Choicest Treat
Iraq has become the latest Neapolitan ice cream treat in our world. The Shiite's have claimed the chocolate end of the treat as their own because they are there. Location, location, location is everything to Shiites in southern and central Iraq. Imams and clerics can see with a few throw pillows; the installation of a Bose sound system, and top-notch prayer rugs, the old gestalt of the mosques could be repeated in the palaces. Furthermore, they stand within miles of rich oil fields.
The Kurds and Why
The Kurds in the north get the vanilla. With Turkey standing by with a large spoon and fears by U.S. Troops of a food fight over the oil fields of Kirkuk, The Kurds' karma seems destined to receive the least obnoxious part of the treat. As small country with substantial oil reserves, if they can keep the buzzards of Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Iran, and Syria, at bay for a few decades; they would probably disintegrate into a small OPEC member.
The Sunni Sands
The Sunni will receive mostly strawberry with occasional slivers of chocolate and vanilla. Their public relations ploy of looting the museums and hospitals has raised the military's opinion of them as the leaders of a new Iraq. But with a territory with nothing but sand, their future is likely to be an annexation of Syria.
Using the Wrong Knife the Wrong Way
The United States objective is to slice the treat vertically and give each a portion of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. But we haven't the right knife. History shows that geography and religion always win over politics. Iran has the right knife to slice the treat and time to wait until its soft.
