NYT: Kurdish region in N. Iraq remain semi-autonomous

Times correspondent Steven R. Weisman quoted an administration official as saying, "Once we struck the Nov. 15 agreement [setting June 30 as the target date for self-rule], there was a realization that it was best not to touch too heavily on the status quo. The big issue of federalism in the Kurdish context will have to wait for the Iraqis to resolve. For us to try to resolve it in a month or two is simply too much to attempt." Weisman also stated that administration and Iraq officials insist that leaving the Kurdish autonomous region intact for now does not preclude Iraq’s consolidating itself without ethnic states in the future when Iraq writes its own constitution. “According to the officials, the Bush administration plans to continue to press Iraq not to divide itself permanently along ethnic lines, officials say,” Weisman added.