"There's no civil war in Iraq"

From today's NYT:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 14 — The bodies of more than 85 executed men have surfaced across Baghdad in the past two days, in Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods, providing graphic proof, yet again, of sectarian mayhem.

The bodies of victims of apparent sectarian violence in Baghdad today were brought to a hospital.

Many bodies bore marks of torture — badly beaten faces, gagged mouths and rope burns around the neck — though it remains unclear who is responsible.

The wave of unchecked killings comes at a time when the American government is insisting that Iraqi security forces can reverse the slide toward chaos. But less than a month after an assault on a Shiite shrine nearly plunged Iraq into all-out civil war, the blood continues to flow, just as freely.

Many of the street executions happened in the same areas where Shiite militiamen rampaged in the days after the shrine attack, suggesting that no one is able, or willing, to stop them.