Numbers

The Washington Post is claiming that more than 1,200 people were killed in the violence spurred by the attack and destruction of the Golden Dome Mosque. Omar at Iraq the Model has different numbers that are seriously at odds with the Washington Post's figures.

The WaPo claims that the figure is more than three times higher than previously released figures.

Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week's bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside of major U.S. offensives, according to Baghdad's main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media.

Hundreds of unclaimed dead lay at the morgue at midday Monday -- blood-caked men who had been shot, knifed, garroted or apparently suffocated by the plastic bags still over their heads. Many of the bodies were sprawled with their hands still bound -- and many of them had wound up at the morgue after what their families said was their abduction by the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

So what's the real toll? And does the ultimate death toll matter as to whether the country is headed towards civil war, something less than civil war, or an extremely violent response to an incredible travesty and affront to a large percentage of Shi'ites who saw one of their holiest shrines destroyed by terrorists?

The answers aren't clear, and anyone who thinks that the Iraqi endeavor is doomed to failure only wants to see the worst. Let's recall what spurred the horrible bloodletting - an attack and destruction of a holy religious shrine that resulted in that group attacking its religious opponents.

The butchers bill must be laid at the feet of the perpetrators of the attack on the Golden Dome mosque. They knew that their action would cause some to resort to violence, and hoped that the sectarian violence would spiral out of the control of the Iraqi government and coalition forces.

Despite the high death toll, that did not come to pass. The high death toll is extremely unfortunate and a step back in the process, but the fact that Sunni and Shia political groups are back to talking about forming a new government shows that there is resiliency in the political groundwork being laid by the Iraqi people.

UPDATE:
While there was more violence today, and 56 people killed in a series of bombings around Baghdad, the Iraqi government strenuously objected to the WaPo's tally.

UPDATE:
The Officers Club takes the AP to task for burying the lede (and the headline boast to boot). This news comes concurrently with the violence elsewhere in Iraq due to the destruction of the Golden Dome, and yet people in Ramadi turned in a major al Qaeda figure. Curious. Jihad Watch also noticed.

Sweetness and Light wonders what would happen if the media declares a civil war and no one shows up.

Decision 08 notes the tremendous amount of diplomatic work that the US and many Iraqis did behind the scenes to keep a bad situation under control and reduce the likelyhood of a civil war. The blog also notes that Sadr's militias continue to be a major headache for the coalition.

Others blogging: Memeorandum