When Is a War Civil ?

In 1944 the New Century Dictionary defined a "civil war" as a war "between parties in their own country.

The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, long held to be the authority on the English language, (our edition published in 1971) defines civil war as that which occurs " among fellow citizens or within the limits of one community".

The Merriam-Webster Online dictionary (13 seconds ago) defined civil war as "a war between opposing groups of citizens of the same country".

Something must have changed because the MSM just doesn't seem able to pull the trigger and call fighting in Iraq a civil war. It seems to us to meet every criteria set forth in these definitions and it isn't as if they haven't been talking about it.

As far back as May of 2005, Newsday was worrying about whether Iraq was "on the edge" of a civil war or in the middle of one.

Then in February of 2006 FOX News wondered aloud whether a civil war in Iraq might be a good thing.

Around the same time the Christian Science Monitor was reporting Iraqi opinion that the "war could really be on now."

In March FOX retreated to the opinion that the media was "making it up" when it came to the existence or non of a civil war in Iraq.

In the middle of March our old friend Pat Robertson joined the discussion with the opinion that Americans (and presumably Iraqis) who thought there was a civil war in Iraq "don't have a clue". Pat's personal record on clue possession is not stellar, but we shall see.

Today, the Denver Post carries the headline " Iraq 'On the Edge of Civil War' ".

Why the reluctance to call a spade a spade ? The Chicago Tribune, back in April, indicated they didn't feel qualified to call an eight hundred pound gorilla an eight hundred pound gorilla. They were, they indicated, waiting for direction from Washington and Baghdad, the two places on the planet least likely to name that tune.

Washington won't say it, at least via the Administration, because to do so would put the final gloss on the portrait of utter, complete and abysmal failure that has been coming into focus since "Mission Accomplished".

The Iraqi government won't say it because to do so would predictably increase the pressure for an American ( sorry, "coalition") withdrawl, an event that would likely spell the end of their government and their employment.

Maybe we need someone in the MSM with the plain courage to just say it.

Maybe we need a statue, like that of Gen. Robert E. Lee, shown above.

Our thanks to MediaMatters for the Fox and Robertson materials.

Stay patient and

Stay Naked
jd