Present at the Disintegration - New York Times

Present at the Disintegration - New York Times: "Present at the Disintegration

By KANAN MAKIYA
Published: December 11, 2005

London

WASHINGTON and Baghdad will be tempted, with the adoption of a new Constitution and the election on Thursday for a four-year government, to declare victory in Iraq. In one sense, they are right to do so. The emerging Iraqi polity undoubtedly represents a radical break not only with the country's past but also with the whole Arab state system established by Britain and France after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire."