“I’m having a tough time seeing it come back together,” Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart told an industry conference, speaking of Iraq and Syria.
On Iraq, Stewart said he is “wrestling with the idea that the Kurds will come back to a central government of Iraq,” suggesting he believed it was unlikely. On Syria, he added: “I can see a time in the future where Syria is fractured into two or three parts”, “Time of Israel” reported.
"“I think the Middle East is going to be seeing change over the coming decade or two that is going to make it look unlike it did,” Brennan said."
"That is not the US goal", he said, "but it’s looking increasingly likely."
CIA Director John Brennan
CIA Director John Brennan, speaking on the same panel at an industry conference, noted that the countries’ borders remain in place, but the governments have lost control of them. A self-declared caliphate by the so-called “Islamic State” straddles the border between both countries.
Iraqis and Syrians now more often identify themselves by tribe or religious sect, rather than by their nationality, he said.
“I think the Middle East is going to be seeing change over the coming decade or two that is going to make it look unlike it did,” Brennan said.
In 2006, then-Sen. Joe Biden argued for splitting Iraq into three autonomous ethnic zones with a limited role for a central government.