The de facto partition of Iraq occurred prior to the invasion, at least the separation of the Kurdish areas from the areas dominated by the Sunnis and Shias. And its utter separation from the rest of Iraq can be seen in this brief paragraph, if Sarah Baxter and Uzi Mahnaimi (in Israel) have told it like it is—

Israel’s special forces are said to be operating inside Iran in an urgent attempt to locate the country’s secret uranium enrichment sites. “We found several suspected sites last year but there must be more,” an Israeli intelligence source said. They are operating from a base in northern Iraq, guarded by Israeli soldiers with the approval of the Americans, according to Israeli sources.

Are we to believe that the "sovereign" government of Iraq is countenancing Israeli soldiers on its territory?

[9/1/07 — The original link to the Times Online is now pointing to a different article in that journal. A very odd system they have. Fortunately a blogger posted the article in its entirety. I've modified the link accordingly.]