Cut back to 1947.
Ethnic riots had broken out across India, and its leaders decided the best course of action was to divide the country. Cyril Radcliffe drew a line across a map dividing communities that had lived together for hundreds of years.
Result: a million deaths and 14-16 million people displaced. Neither was that the end of the story. India and Pakistan didn't stop fighting, Pakistan imploded violently into two nations, and the mayhem still goes on in Kashmir.

It's only a unified, multicultural Iraq that can preserve some semblance of independence and decency.