When I disagree with Vin Suprynowicz it’s usually over the appropriate treatment of foreigners, but Vin’s Iraq policy is not without appeal.
He didn’t need to put it so spitefully, though. Secession is not a punishment.
On yet another hand, maybe the natural division of Iraq is not the obvious one. I’d split Iraq into the 18 provinces, if not finer, and hold plebiscites: “For each of the 17 other provinces, yes or no: shall your province federate with ________?” Merge the provinces into federations where 3/5 of the voters in each province consent to joining with each other province. Then hold another round of plebiscites allowing border districts to switch by simple majority.