The Pentagon is obviously either [a] still wearing its official administration issue Bush blinders, or [b] telling it like they’re told to tell it. Statements like “Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq. Nevertheless, the current violence is not a civil war …” seem to leave few other possibilities.

* sectarian violence
* illegal militias
* death squads
* attacks up by 15%
* Iraqi deaths up by 51%
* fewer Iraqis think things will get better

Ya just gotta wonder what it will take before this bunch of pencil pushers does consider what is going on to be the civil war that they started….. maybe blue and gray uniforms?

And where does this leave the Middle East?

Well, George W. “We’re not leaving so long as I’m the president” Bush refuses to do the only thing that has any possible chance of ultimately resolving the issue, the US army contemplates redrawing the map of the Middle east to correct past errors, and the “Ethnic cleansing works” cat has escaped from the bag and now gets to run around in the wilds of America.

All we need now is a little bit of good old fashioned “God is on our side” from the ‘good guys’[tm] and Crusade can join Jihad.

….. oh, wait, we already got that……