200 dead = (what?).......Bull-Shiite

I could not believe this:

Khalilzad: Risk of Iraqi civil war stemming from mosque attack over

(CNN) -- The risk of an Iraqi civil war stemming from the bombing of a Shia shrine five days ago is over, although tensions could again be inflamed if a similar attack occurs, Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told CNN Monday.

"I think the country came to the brink of civil war, but Iraqis decided that they didn't want to go down that path and came together," he said on CNN's "The Situation Room."

"Clearly, the terrorists who plotted an attack wanted to provoke a civil war. It looked quite dangerous in the initial 48 hours," he said. "But I believe that the Iraqis decided to come together, and now the risk of civil war from this attack on the Golden Mosque is over."

More than 200 people have died in violence, much of it sectarian, since the bombing of the Al-Askariya mosque in Samarra, known as the Golden Mosque because of its now-destroyed gold dome. It is one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. (Posted 5:55 p.m.)

Far from it, far from it.... I am not sure exactly how many people have to die to qualify a "civil war" but is there some type of rule book or code to define what exactly is going on in Iraq? And I am sure that there is published research on all civil wars across the world where the first 48 hours prove to be the most dangerous....

Let us consult Wikipedia:

A civil war is a war in which the parties within the same country or empire struggle for national control of state power. As in any war, the conflict may be over other matters such as religion, ethnicity, or distribution of wealth.

As religions tended to become more rigidly defined and understood by their followers, inter-religious tensions generally increased. The rise of Islam witnessed a rash of uprisings against non-Islamic rulers soon after its appearance. Subsequent Islamic history has been marked by repeated civil conflicts, mostly stemming out of the Shi'ite-Sunni divide.

mmm nope... don't see any of that going on in Iraq... it just sounds way too accurate....