Iraq is a deeply polarized society, with Sunnis, Shias, Kurds and other minorities deeply distrustful of each other. Despite this, Saddam Hussain was able to unite them, although by applying force.
Chemical attacks on Kurdish cities were surely a great way of uniting Iraq.
I feel shame to see how the Iraqi army took of their clothes and fled to Kurdistan, giving up without a fight, and now Iraq is asking the Kurdish Peshmergas for help when Baghdad has failed to pay any contribution towards funding the Peshmerga units which it may now need.