It is interesting to note that the mainstream media (MSM) is now reporting that Iraq is teetering on the brink of civil war. This is BS. The situation has not changed, Iraq has been in a civil war for months now, we are just on the brink of calling the ~1000 civillian deaths a month a civil war rather than civil unrest.

I would refer you to this figure from the IraqBodyCount.org's report on civilian casualties 2003-2005.



Note these figures are from 2004 and early 2005. I recall in recent months seeing news stories that these death rates have climbed above 1k. While these may be "criminal" killings, I think that's being a bit glib. They are killings that can't be attributed to insurgents or US forces, that's all. I am willing to bet that the killings in the last few days don't represent a great increase from the average of 30-40 deaths a day from this so-called "criminal" element. About 200 people have been killed in the last 4 days since the bombing, that's about a 20% increase from what was already being experienced by Iraqis. Why this is suddenly being called a civil war by the MSM can only be explained by the audacity of the act of blowing up the Askariya shrine in Samarra on Wednesday. It isn't the number of deaths that has changed, only the symbolic status of blowing up such an important holy building (in which no one died).

So, as for "teetering" on the brink of civil war I call shenanigans on the MSM. They've been in the midst of a civil war in Iraq for over a year. Everybody get a broom!

**Update**
The Washington Post reports that morgue surveys have indicated initial reporting was grossly underestimating the number of casualties. The new figures for the violence since the shrine attack is 1,300 civilians killed.

But at the morgue, where the floor was crusted with dried blood, the evidence of the damage already done was clear. Iraqis arrived throughout the day, seeking family members and neighbors among the contorted bodies.

"And they say there is no sectarian war?" demanded one man. "What do you call this?"

The brothers of one missing man arrived, searching for a body. Their hunt ended on the concrete floor, provoking sobs of mourning: "Why did you kill him?" "He was unarmed!" "Oh, my brother! Oh, my brother!"

Morgue officials said they had logged more than 1,300 dead since Wednesday -- the day the Shiites' gold-domed Askariya shrine was bombed -- photographing, numbering and tagging the bodies as they came in over the nights and days of retaliatory raids.

Now, can there be any doubt? All Sunday during the talk shows, (an entirely Republican guest list I might add) everyone on the right denied it was a civil war, it didn't meet the criteria, there wasn't mass unrest, etc. Next Sunday, I hope they actually get some Democrats on the talk shows who actually know what's happening and are willing to call it what it is, an escalating civil war.