Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said in a radio interview last week that the possibility of splitting up Iraq along sectarian lines was "worth looking at" and "warrants discussion."
"Ideas like that are certainly worth looking at," Walker told radio host Chris Salcedo when asked about comments made by former U.N. ambassador John Bolton about dividing up the country.
"Before you start talking about dividing up anything you have to get control over there. If you have Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds as you mentioned, distinctive categories, but the Sunnis have to be the freedom-loving ones, responsible ones, they can't be the more radical elements of the Islamic State."
Walker said many of the current problems in Iraq exist because the United States "backed away" from the country instead of "securing and maintaining the peace that was won."
"I don't why we don't learn from history," said Walker, pointing to the the longterm presence of U.S. troops in Japan and German after the Second World War.
Walker said once there was stable order if Iraq, dividing up the country at that point certainly "warrants discussion."
"We should learn the same thing when it comes to Iraq. Get back to the position where we eliminate the Islamic State from Iraq," added Walker. "Put things back in a stable order and then at the point, how things might be divided up, certainly it warrants discussion, but I don't think you can do that until you get stability there."
Walker is expected to announce in the next few weeks whether he will seek the Republican nomination for president.