The ongoing crisis in Iraq has opened the door to independence for the Kurds.
The Kurds are a minority in the north and eastern part of Iraq and since the end of the regime of Saddam Hussein, they've gained a lot of autonomy.
The Obama administration has acknowledged that the Kurds feel left out of Iraq's political process, but as our Washington correspondent Priscilla Huff reports, observers feel that the Kurds may achieve their dream of independence sooner rather than later.
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The battle for Kirkuk, a major city north of Baghdad, may be the turning point for the Kurds.
As ISIS - the militants calling themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - swept across Iraq, taking control of major cities such as Mosul
the pesh merga - the Kurd's militia - took control of Kirkuk - a city claimed by the Kurds but not officially part of their autonomous region.
Qubad Talabani, Deputy PM of Kurdistan, saying he believes the militants are not interested in the Kurdish regions ... but the violence required them to protect their people.
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Deputy Prime Minister Talabani also believes Iraq. is finished as a unitary state.
U-S Senator John McCain is convinced, the takeover of Kirkuk is a turning point.
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But the oObama administration is much more cautious.
During a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key,
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry observed
One of Iraq's greatest problems is the cloud over governance...especially that the Kurds, and also the Sunnis feel left out and feel like they have not been included in the political process.
And since U-S ally Turkey has opposed Kurdish independence, Washington has supported that position.
Ken Pollack is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution says, that thinking is changing.
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ISIS has made it clear that their goal is erase the Sykes Picot line, imposed in secret by British and French diplomats a century ago.
The situation with the Kurds is complicated by the fact that while most live in Iraq, there are significant populations in Iran, Turkey and Syria.
Senator McCain says not so fast.
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The mayor of Kirkuk told the New York Times,
the situation established in 2003 - the Kurds governing an autonomous region has not worked, and “The whole of Iraq cannot go back to the way it was before
Ken Pollack is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, says, if America can get its regional allies to agree, its time to support the dream of Kurdish independence.
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The official line from Irbil - the capital of autonomous Kurdistan - is that for now, they support the constitution of Iraq.
And the focus for the Obama administration is bolstering Iraq's faltering security situation...while urging Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to focus on a political solution.
Priscilla Huff, Washington
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