Civil War?

From The New York Times:

RIGA, Latvia, Nov. 28 — On the eve of a high-profile trip to Jordan to meet Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq, President Bush on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that Iraq had descended into civil war, blamed Al Qaeda for the latest wave of sectarian violence and vowed not to withdraw troops “until the mission is complete.”

The media have decreed that Iraq is in a state of civil war and will not be happy until the President agrees with them in public. However the situation on the ground does not easily lend itself to the "civil war" model.

What seems to be happening for the most part is different tribal and religious factions fighting each other, not for control of the government, but just because they hate each other.

When the Bloods and the Crips were at war in the Southern California area no one said that the US had entered a second Civil War. This seems to be the closest analog to what is happening in Iraq now, except on a larger scale.

What we need to do is start putting down these different militias and factions. Not by negotiating with them but by shooting them. Either that or step back and let Iraq fall into a real civil war; then step in and make a deal with whoever comes out the winner.