Two out of Three 24 Hour News Networks Agree : Sectarian Violence = Civil War (Iraq Update)

Congratulations my fellow Americans.  We have officially started a civil war in Iraq.

Pat yourself on the back, buy some more stock in the MIC, and laugh all the way to the bank.  Good jorb, guys!!

If we keep this up, there'll soon be a million or two less potential terrorists in the world.  Sure, they'll be 20-30,000,000 more actual people with mortal grievances against US, but, hey...at least...uh...at least...well......"least" pretty much says it all.

On with the update.

CNN: It's a civil war.

NBC: It's a civil war.

Via the NYT.

The common scholarly definition has two main criteria. The first says that the warring groups must be from the same country and fighting for control of the political center, control over a separatist state or to force a major change in policy. The second says that at least 1,000 people must have been killed in total, with at least 100 from each side.

American professors who specialize in the study of civil wars say that most of their number are in agreement that Iraq’s conflict is a civil war.

[...]
But in fact, many scholars say the bloodshed here already puts Iraq in the top ranks of the civil wars of the last half-century. The carnage of recent days — beginning with bombings on Thursday in a Shiite district of Baghdad that killed more than 200 people — reinforces their assertion.
[...]
In the United States, the debate over the term rages because many politicians, especially those who support the war, believe there would be domestic political implications to declaring it a civil war. They fear that an acknowledgment by the White House and its allies would be seen as an admission of a failure of President Bush’s Iraq policy.

They also worry that the American people might not see a role for American troops in an Iraqi civil war and would more loudly demand a withdrawal.

From the Whitehouse: "It's sectarian violence people, not civil war.  And also remember to avoid calling "security contractors" mercenaries...despite the fact that's what they've been called in all war throughout history."

Fox "News": It's the Democrats fault.  { KO analysis, with what happened next }  NOTE: It should be noted that according to Fox "News" the Democrats are at fault for everything different and icky that exists. Also, I just saw an IMPORTANT NEWS BULLETIN that the Democrats are ugly and smell funny too.
--
Here's another post from "The Daily Background" that has a quick rundown of who's lying to you (and themselves).
--
For a bit lighter fare, check out one of the issues Bush had to deal with on his whirlwind tour of what he thinks of as his world.

BOGOR, Indonesia (AP) - A renowned black magic practitioner performed a voodoo ritual Thursday [Nov. 16th] to jinx President George W. Bush and his entourage while he was on a brief visit to Indonesia.

Ki Gendeng Pamungkas slit the throat of a goat, a small snake and stabbed a black crow in the chest, stirred their blood with spice and broccoli before drank the "potion" and smeared some on his face.

"I don't hate Americans, but I don't like Bush," said Pamungkas, who believed the ritual would succeed as, "the devil is with me today."

He said the jinx would sent spirits to posses Secret Service personnel guarding Bush and left them in a trance, leading them into falsely thinking the President was under attack, thus eventually causing chaos in Bogor Presidential Palace, where the American leader was scheduled to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday.

Indonesia the world's most populous Muslim country, however many still practicing animist rituals, including black magic, that predate Islam's arrival in the archipelago.

"I am doing voodoo, because other ritual would not work," he told reporters after he conducted the gory ritual about 1 kilometers from the palace.

{ full story }

The really strange part about this one [and the part that makes me think it's not at all "ighter" fare...]

Honolulu motorcycle police officer Steve Favela died yesterday [Nov. 26th], five days after he was critically injured while escorting President Bush's motorcade [on Nov. 21st].

He died at 9:55 a.m. with relatives at his bedside at the Queen's Medical Center, according to the Department of the Medical Examiner.

Favela was 30 years old and had been with the department for eight years. He and his wife had four young children.

Favela suffered multiple injuries Tuesday morning when his motorcycle crashed while he was riding with the president's motorcade at Hickam Air Force Base.

"He was a really good guy," said Domingo Manog, one of the officers involved, who was overwhelmed with grief yesterday.

The crash, during Bush's 16-hour stopover in Honolulu, happened as the president headed to a breakfast with 300 island-based troops.

{ full story }  

Can someone please inform Mr. Pamungkas that his aim is a bit off?  I mean...really...broccoli?!  That's been out of favor in voodoo circles for years. Boy needs to get his hands on some collared greens if he wants to take down a Southern man.
--
And of course, I would be totally remiss to miss the Daily Show's take on this "semantic quibbling".
--
Finally, one more milestone has been crossed in this War to End All Terror.   Mr. Bush likes (a lot) to compare the U.S. invading a country that posed no threat to it and had been under crushing sanctions for 12 years (i.e. Iraq) to the U.S. helping to fight back an industrial powerhouse that had already invaded and conquered a number of countries and was allied with another country that performed a devestating sneak attack on our navy (i.e. World War II).   However, as should be evident to anyone with even a sneaking grasp of history, such a comparison is absurd.  What's not absurd is that the two wars are, as of now, of the exact same length.

WASHINGTON -- The war in Iraq has now lasted longer than the US involvement in the conflict that President Bush's father fought in, World War II.

As of today, the conflict in Iraq has raged for three years and just over eight months.

Only the Vietnam War (eight years, five months), the Revolutionary War (six years, nine months), and the Civil War (four years) have engaged America longer.

Fighting in Afghanistan, which may or may not be a full-fledged war depending on who is keeping track, has gone on for five years, one month. It continues as the ousted Taliban resurges and the central government is challenged.

Bush says he still is undecided whether to start bringing US troops home from Iraq or add to the 140,000 there now. He is awaiting the conclusions of several top-to-bottom studies.

The Iraq war began March 19, 2003, with the US bombing of Baghdad. On May 1, 2003, Bush famously declared major combat operations over, the pronouncement coming in a speech aboard an aircraft carrier emblazoned with a "Mission Accomplished" banner.

{ full story }

And that last bit, that bit at the end there regarding that damn banner, that alone should be enough to get this asshat impeached.

If that's not enough, how about being a militaristic nutjob?  Because that's exactly what snake oil he's been selling on his trip around the globe.

Facing rising violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, US President George Bush is pressing European allies for more help in a rush of high-stakes diplomacy amid growing public impatience with the war.

Bush left today for an overnight stop in Estonia ahead of a two-day Nato summit in Riga, Latvia. He then heads to Amman, Jordan, for talks Wednesday and Thursday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

The president is expected to urge Nato members to increase defence spending.

The defence outlays of some Nato partners are less than half those of the United States as a percentage of gross domestic product. Aides say many US allies are ill-equipped for modern military operations.

{ full story }

Yes, because...you see...unless you have a military capable of inducing civil war in Middle Eastern dictatorships, you really don't have much of a military at all.

While the US spends about 3.7% of its gross domestic product on defence, most member countries spend less than 2%, he said.

“It is still true that only seven of the Nato allies spend more than 3% of their gross domestic product on defence,” Burns said.

According to estimated figures published on Nato’s website, France spent 2.5% of its GDP on defence last year, Britain devoted 2.4%t and German expenditures were at 1.4%, down from 2% at the end of the Cold War. Canada was among the members with the lowest spending, at 1.1% of its GDP.

I knew there was another reason I loved Canada.

Check out this next line.  It's a keeper.

Nicholas Burns, the US under-secretary for political affairs and a former Nato ambassador, said Bush will make the case, as he did at Nato summits in Istanbul and Prague, for increased spending on systems and capabilities “that are absolutely necessary for success on the modern battlefield and in modern peacekeeping.”

When the MIC (NIM) has the PoTUS out there shilling for them, and selling the idea that "War making is Peace keeping"...I don't know how much worse it can get.

But I'm sure I'll find out.