How lethal can the civil war get?

Submitted by Michael Turner (United States), Apr 11, 2006 at 13:48

A worse evil than Saddam himself was something that could be predicted from the outset: we'd bog down there, the Anglo-American alliance would retreat from Iraq when the length and number of casualties became unacceptable, leaving Iraq to its own devices. What those devices might be, in the worst case, is pretty clear: full-scale civil war.

I've heard otherwise-intelligent people say, "Well, if they can't rule their own country peacefully, they'll get what they deserve." Unfortunately, even if you suppose that every adult in Iraq over the age of 18 is culpable in such mass irresponsibility, there are a lot of younger Iraqis who definitely do NOT deserve to be living in a civil war situation.

The "icing" may yet turn a deep shade of brown. Perhaps it already has started to. Wake up and smell the icing.

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