Violence Continues

Sectarian violence in Iraq resulting from the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra continued into a second day:

Iraq canceled all leave for the police and army and placed them on the highest alert as the death toll mounted on Thursday in sectarian violence that has swept the country after bombs wrecked a major Shi'ite shrine.

The Interior Ministry said all police and army leave was canceled, curfews were extended as the country locks down for three days of national mourning and forces were on high alert.

Police and military sources tallied at least 78 deaths, mostly of Sunnis, in the two biggest cities Baghdad and Basra in the 24 hours since the Samarra attack. Dozens of Sunni mosques have been attacked and several burned to the ground.

The bombing has had significant political consequences as well:

The main Sunni religious authority made an extraordinary public criticism of the Shi'ites' most revered clerical leader, accusing him of fuelling the violence by calling for protests.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Shi'ites' reclusive and aging senior cleric, made a rare, if silent, television appearance that underlined the gravity of the crisis on Wednesday. He called for protests but also restraint.

The Iraqi Accordance Front, which won most of the minority Sunni vote in December's parliamentary election, said it would need an apology from the ruling Shi'ites before it would consider rejoining talks on a national unity coalition.

"We are suspending our participation in negotiations on the government with the Shi'ite Alliance," Tareq al-Hashemi, a top official of the Accordance Front, told a news conference at which he accused Shi'ite leaders of fostering the violence.

The United Nations Security Council, rarely able to find a common voice on Iraq since its bitter divisions over the U.S. invasion in 2003, sounded a note of alarm in calling on Iraqis to rally behind a non-sectarian government.

The threat of civil war in Iraq has always loomed vaguely and uncertainly over the horizon, but it seems more real and certain at this point than at anytime since the invasion. Though the violence and killings are certainly tragic, perhaps the most disturbing consequence is that Sunnis are pulling out of talks to join the national government:

The process of forming a new government also appeared to be in jeopardy, as some Sunni politicians, protesting what they said was a lack of protection for Sunni mosques attacked overnight, said they were pulling out of negotiations with Shiite parties.

Tariq al Hashemi, of the Iraq Accordance Front, the main Sunni Muslim bloc, said his group has decided "to suspend negotiations over forming a new government." It also boycotted a meeting of reconciliation set for today with President Jalal Talabani.

Shiite leaders are also responding to the increased level of violence. Juan Cole sees even more disturbing signs of an escalation in hostilities between Shiites and Sunnis:

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani was shown on Iraqiyah television meeting with the other 3 grand ayatollahs in Najaf, among whom he is first among equals. They include Bashir Najafi, Muhammad Ishaq Fayyad and Muhammad Sa`id al-Hakim. Sistani called for self-discipline and for peaceful demonstrations. He said Shiites must not attack Sunni mosques, but called for them to demonstrate peacefully. He laid responsibility for security on the Iraqi government, saying that it "is called today more than at any time in the past to shoulder its full responsibilities in stopping the series of criminal actions that have targeted holy spaces. If the security apparatuses are unable to safeguard against this crisis, the believers are able to do so, by the aid of God."

Astonishingly, Sistani seems to be threatening to deploy his own militia, Ansar Sistani, if the Iraqi government doesn't do a better job of protecting Shiites and their holy sites. One lesson Sistani will have taken from the bombing of the Askariyah shrine in Samarra is that he is not very secure in Najaf, either. But all we need in Iraq is yet another powerful private sectarian militia!

As for the Bush Administration's response:

[Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay] Khalilzad issued a joint statement on Wednesday with Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American commander in Iraq, in which he deplored the bombing as a "crime against humanity" and pledged American help in rebuilding the dome. In Washington, President Bush issued a statement extending his sympathy to Iraqis. "The United States condemns this cowardly act in the strongest possible terms," Mr. Bush said. "I ask all Iraqis to exercise restraint in the wake of this tragedy, and to pursue justice in accordance with the laws and Constitution of Iraq."

And that's pretty much all we can do. We can't even hope to put enough soldiers on the streets to deter violence. At this point, things are pretty much out of our hands, and our only option is to wait and hope for the best.

UPDATE: And of course in the midst of all of this, our soldiers continue to die.

UPDATE II: Unsurprisingly, Iran is seizing on the opportunity to make things hard on us over this.