So, bush and his gang of Stooges don’t think there’s a civil war going on in Iraq? Let’s hear from someone in Baghdad, Riverbend describes some pretty chilling times on this third anniversary of the US committing a war crime by invading a nation that represented no threat to the US.

I don’t think anyone imagined three years ago that things could be quite this bad today. The last few weeks have been ridden with tension. I’m so tired of it all- we’re all tired.

Three years and the electricity is worse than ever. The security situation has gone from bad to worse. The country feels like it’s on the brink of chaos once more- but a pre-planned, pre-fabricated chaos being led by religious militias and zealots.

School, college and work have been on again, off again affairs. It seems for every two days of work/school, there are five days of sitting at home waiting for the situation to improve. Right now college and school are on hold because the “arba3eeniya” or the “40th Day” is coming up- more black and green flags, mobs of men in black and latmiyas. We were told the children should try going back to school next Wednesday. I say “try” because prior to the much-awaited parliamentary meeting a couple of days ago, schools were out. After the Samarra mosque bombing, schools were out. The children have been at home this year more than they’ve been in school.

But this excerpt [my bold] is especially indicative of exactly the kind of thing one would expect to see as the cultural fabric unravels and lays bare the country to the ravages of an internecine conflict that could last decades.

The real fear is the mentality of so many people lately- the rift that seems to have worked it’s way through the very heart of the country, dividing people. It’s disheartening to talk to acquaintances- sophisticated, civilized people- and hear how Sunnis are like this, and Shia are like that… To watch people pick up their things to move to “Sunni neighborhoods” or “Shia neighborhoods”. How did this happen?

Well, bush and the gang never saw anything else coming, even a hurricane they could watch on radar and satellite, so I guess it isn’t surprising they aren’t noticing this either.

On another note. Crooks and Liars had an interesting little contest recently, Edward R. Murrow for a minute, wherein they asked for short bits of prose in the style of the famous newsman that describe the current situation. You can visit there and see who they chose for their 3 winners (supposedly through voting but the process was anything but clear), but for my money the best one by far was submitted by a guy who called himself ‘Mike Anderson’, here it is:

Today’s Democrats are like a mob trying to decide which thread to pull to unravel the cloak of a naked emperor. - Mike Anderson