Civil War on the horizon

Iraqi government orders daytime curfews after more than 100 killed

Religious leaders summoned Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis to joint prayer services Friday amid an extraordinary daytime curfew aimed at halting a wave of sectarian violence that has killed nearly 130 people since the bombing of one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.

Police and soldiers blocked major roads and surrounded Baghdad's two main Sunni mosques as streets throughout this city of nearly seven million emptied of people and traffic. The country stood on the brink of civil war and the American strategy in Iraq faced its gravest test since the 2003 invasion.

The number of dead in the vicious circle of violence provoked by the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra was rising by the hour yesterday. More than 130 people are known to have been killed in tit-for-tat killings by Shia and Sunni, but the true figure is certainly much higher. The militant Sunni Clerical Association of Muslim Scholars said 168 Sunni mosques had been attacked, 10 imams had been killed and 15 abducted.

TIMELINE
Two days of bloodshed

WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY

Dawn attack destroys the Golden Mosque in Samarra, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam. No one is injured but violent protests soon break out.

* More than 50 Sunni mosques attacked in Baghdad alone.

* In Basra, protesters set fire to Sunni shrine containing the remains of one of Mohamed's companions. Sunni cleric is shot dead in the afternoon.

* 11pm: Eleven prisoners taken from a jail in Basra by unidentified gunmen and shot in the head.

THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY

9am: Bodies of three al-Arabiya journalists sent to cover the Samarra bombing found dumped.

* 10am: 47 people dragged from their cars and shot while returning from a protest against the Samarra bombing north of Baghdad.

* Iraqi President Jalal Talabani summons political leaders to a meeting but the biggest Sunni faction, the Iraqi Accordance Front, refuses to attend.

* Numerous bodies, many with their hands tied, found in east Baghdad and Basra. Most victims are Sunnis.

* As night falls, more than 130 people are believed to have been killed.

This is leading to civil war. There has been plans drawn up between US and Isreali intrests that want Iraq carved into three pieces. This means more security and construction contracts. Also, with civil war WE DON'T LEAVE! Remember PNAC documents call for a war of atleast a hundred years. We can't leave yet, it has barely been a whole three years.