Only on the brink of a civil war? I would have thought Iraq was already there but no one had just called it yet.

Haven't we been "on the brink" of civil war for like three months? Who decides when we're past the "brink" and actually in it?

This is my question too. I think it's long past brink-anything. And perhaps acknowledging the fact that Iraq is in civil war could help bring about peace sooner rather than later.