Kurdish leaders are threatening to walk away from a new Iraqi state, fearful of being sidelined by a Shiite dominated government. The Kurds have been running an autonomous mini-state since 1991. Prominent Shiite cleric
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said he would not accept giving Kurds veto power over a permanent constitution due to be drawn up next year. Kurds cutting their ties to Baghdad.

Guests:

Peter Galbraith, former U.S. ambassador to Croatia and Near East and South Asia advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is a senior diplomatic fellow at the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington. His op-ed “There is one way to preserve Iraq – and give us a way out: A federation of Shia, Sunni and Kurdish states will avoid civil war” recently appeared in The Guardian.

Ambassador Galbraith uncovered and documented Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaign against the Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980’s, leading to sanctions legislation against Iraq and later contributing to the decision to create a safe-haven for the Kurds