Gloom Or Not?

Headline from AP today:

Iraq Edges Closer to Open Civil Warfare

Ralph Peters, writing at RCP of his recent trip to Iraq:

In the wake of the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, a flurry of sectarian attacks inspired wild media claims of a collapse into civil war. It didn't happen. Driving and walking the streets of Baghdad, I found children playing and, in most neighborhoods, business as usual. Iraq can be deadly, but, more often, it's just dreary.

Which is it? Hype or war?

The media is still working hard to establish the civil war, much like Hearst toiled to get us to go to war with Spain. This time, MSM is focused on a bunch of bodies that were dug up. They did not provide information about when those peope were killed, although there's an unexplained reference that it was since the mosque bombing.

In any case, 87 bodies, no matter how gruesome, is not evidence of open civil warfare. It's ugly and bad, but its not war. MSM may want to egg on war, but there are lots of much more sane people in Iraq who are more adept at stopping it.

Related Tags: Baghdad, Iraq, MSM, Media, Civil war