What's so bad about a Civil War, anyway?

Submitted by Wes Clark (United States), Feb 28, 2006 at 14:46

The bombing of the Shiite mosque in Iraq was a calculated and skilled effort, probably by Islamists and foreign instigators, to set the Sunnis and Shiites against each other, provoking a civil war. It seems that the Sunnis cannot win such a conflict, being vastly outnumbered, if the Kurds stand aside.

The incident actually brought conflicting factions, politicians/clergymen together, scrambling to avoid a conflict in which many of their followers would die.

For the first 80+ years of the existence of our own Union, our country was divided by factionalism and local interest. That age even had its own terrorists here. Rancorous divisions led to the onset of our own Civil War, in which many hundreds of thousands were killed or maimed in a brutal and bloody struggle, to the point of spiritual exhaustion. Now, those who study history acknowledge that this great conflagration was the fire which tempered the steel of our Union, and laid the foundation for the greatness America has achieved.

Perhaps Iraq needs to have a civil war of its own. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." (Thomas Jefferson)

And if they're gonna fight, let's get our troops out of the way, and let them go at it.

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