Iraq: A little geography lesson

This map from the BBC shows the three sections of Iraq. And it makes one question whether a "real" election can take place when fully one-third (the top third of the map) of the country is "too dangerous to hold elections."

More about Iraq from the BBC:

More than 26 million people are estimated to live in Iraq - most of them in cities in the eastern half of the country. Most Iraqis are Muslim and are divided along religious lines (between Shias and Sunnis) and ethnic lines (between Arabs and Kurds). There are no precise figures, but the mainly-Arab Shias are thought to form a 60% majority and expect to dominate political life after the January election. Under Saddam Hussein, Sunni Arabs (about 20% of the population) dominated political and economic life. The Kurds, who are also Sunnis and represent about 17% of the population, mainly live in the north where they have enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy since 1991.