It appears that the governing council in Iraq has opted to created a lopsided federation. They have approved a plan for a single, autonomous region for the Kurds as part of an Iraqi federation. Such a province would not likely dominate Iraq, but would problematize the economic recovery of Iraq because control of the oilfields of Kirkuk would fall directly under the control of an autonomous government.

The Kurds have gained a great deal of influence over the reconstruction of Iraq. Due to the genocidal attacks of the Ba'athists in the late 1980s, the Kurds have assumed much of the anti-Hussein ground in Iraqi politics (even though the struggles between the Kurds and Bagdad preceded Hussein. Althought there were programs for Arabization, they included integration and assimilation of Kurds, and there was never a systematic effort at extermination). They were natural allies for Bush to persue. However, the entanglement of ethnicity, nationalism, pan-Arabism, and resistance needs to be unpacked further. The governing council is full of people whose opposition to Hussein was determined by these issues more than the specifics of the genocidal attacks. Special status for northern Iraq is very problematic. It would be more useful to pursue more finely divided provinces that have a great measure of control over economic resources but that also collaborate with national government and their exploitation.