The Kurds’ Catalonian Turn

Monday’s referendum is a short-sighted strategic mistake.

Do Iraq’s Kurds want a self-sufficient, internationally recognized independent state or, like the Catalonians of Spain, a permanent grievance to complain about? One has to wonder, given plans for a Monday plebescite that threatens the ethnic group’s security and economic prosperity.

Masoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), announced his intention to hold a referendum in 2014, but postponed the measure to help Baghdad and Washington beat back Islamic State advances in Iraq. Now that the terrorists...