I’ve heard several informed reporters comment that a low-level civil war has been under way in Iraq for quite sometime. Today’s apocalyptic attack by Sunnis against Shiites looks like Iraq’s version of the attack on Ft. Sumter, though bloodier.
Even Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, long a voice of restraint in the face of violence against his Shiite followers, hinted that the attack on the shrine required a militant response.
“The Iraqi government now is supported more than ever, and if its security apparatuses are not able to offer the required security, then the faithful must be able to do it, with the help of God,” according to a statement released by Sistani’s office in Najaf.