What's So Civil About War Anyway?

Conservative pundits are getting very defensive about the news that Iraq is bogged down in a civil war. Because accepting this would mean accepting that a) the war effort has largely failed, and b) the President may not have accomplished the mission as awesomely as he said... it simply cannot be allowed to pass.

They offer many reasons why Iraq couldn't possibly be embroiled in a civil war- its government is still functioning, the citizens are still going to work and living their lives, businesses remain open, and so on.

These conservatives seem to have an insanely strict definition of what civil war is.

The things mentioned above are all very good things (I salute the Iraqis' strength), but they don't have anything to do with civil war. Civil war does not mean the all-out crumbling of a society and absolute anarchy. It simply means, well, a war inside a nation between two feuding factions. You know- a civil war. When we had our civil war here in America, our society hadn't crumbled. We still had a functioning government (two in fact!), citizens went to work everyday (some in the South didn't get paid for it, though), businesses remained open, and people went to the theatre (unfortunately for Mr. Lincoln). But the country was bitterly divided and engaged in war. We have seen this as the case in other historic civil wars (ie. those in South America, etc). Such is also now the case with Iraq.

Even the leaders in Iraq are remaining very apprehensive on what's to come-
After crisis, a lull - but Iraq leaders gloomy (AP)

I heard someone joke this weekend (Bill Maher... or Arianna Huffington) that conservatives won't admit civil war in Iraq until Iraqis show up on TV in old American civil war battle outfits. Because that will obviously never happen, these loyal Bush apologists will continue to keep their head in the sand and avoid the reality of Iraq that even William Buckley and George Will have conceded.

The problem is that the longer those in power in deny the truth, the worse it will get.

[PS- See previous entry for more thoughts on civil war:
I Don't Need Your Civil War ]