The Times' John Burns Joins Others to Suggest Iraq Civil War is Now in Progress

From Sunday's Editor and Publisher:

In one of the more startling recent mainstream commentaries from Iraq, John F. Burns of The New York Times suggested today that perhaps those who fear a dreaded civil war breaking out there ought to just take a good look around: It might already be here.

He wrote this before another suicide bomber caused havoc at a Baghdad police station today, killing at least 20. Also today, members of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's bloc threatened to walk out of the constitutional drafting committee in support of a Sunni group that boycotted the process. One committee member criticized the way the commission dealt with Sunni members' decision to suspend their participation in drafting the new charter.

In a news report, meanwhile, The Times' Dexter Filkins opened with this statement: "They just keep getting stronger. Despite months of assurances that their forces were on the wane, the guerrillas and terrorists battling the American-backed enterprise here appear to be growing more violent, more resilient and more sophisticated than ever."