Dividing Iraq into separate Sunni and Shia states, for example, could easily result in Mesopotamia’s version of the Indian subcontinent’s tragedy in 1947, when millions of people died fleeing to Pakistan or India after the partition. Indeed, the conflict between Arabs and Kurds that would follow any partition of Iraq would likely be both bloody and long, and would have profound ramifications in Iran, Turkey, and Syria, with their large Kurdish populations.