It is no coincidence that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is talking about the “division of Iraq” as an option to solve the various crises between the Kurds and Sunnis. In an interview with state-owned Al Iraqiya TV on Dec. 30, 2012, Maliki stated: "Iraq is left with four options: resorting to early elections, going to the negotiating table and reaching a solution based on the constitution, the outbreak of a sectarian war, or division."

This card is perhaps the most played in confrontations among Iraqis, and it has been brought up in the past by Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani and Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni.

At first sight, it might seem that playing the division card on the political discussion table always comes in the context of mutual threats aiming to achieve gains. A closer look at the matter, however, reveals the readiness of the three Iraqi sects — Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds — to deal with this option, on the one hand, and their unwillingness to make huge concessions to push it out of the political conflict, on the other.

Even cultural and public Iraqi figures have consistently warned against “division” since 2003. They qualified the approval of “confederations” in the Iraqi constitution, as well as the 2006 project proposed by the current vice president of the United States, Joseph Biden, to form three big confederations in Iraq, as preludes for division. Interestingly enough, these same figures no longer dismiss the term “division” as publically “prohibited” but are considering it “possible.”