So…it’s uncivil now…?

On another thread, a poster said that Iraq was “on the brink of a bloody civil war,” and I realized that I’ve been hearing that a lot lately. “On the brink of civil war.” “On the edge of civil war.” Lots of commentators have been saying that.

And it made me wonder: Is there a tipping point of some sort? Are we waiting for some type of official declaration? Because people of the same nationality are busy aggressively killing each other. What makes them NOT at civil war already? Do they need uniforms, flags, and a catchy anthem or something? Putting aside the notion that “civil war” is right up there with “jumbo shrimp” as an oxymoron (or “President Bush,” which is a plain old moron), at what point amidst the rapidly ascending body count, explosions, beheadings and murders, does someone say, “Okay, that’s it, they’ve jumped over the brink and it’s civil war.”

PAD