Iraq edges away from the brink

The fact that the violence in Iraq has not reached the point of no return after yesterday’s bombing of the mosque at Samara is reassuring. John Burns, the New York Times’ incomparable Baghdad correspondent, has a must-read on why the reaction to-date has been so muted. If the situation remains calm, in relative terms, through Friday prayers this moment of acute danger will have passed.

However, the situation in Iraq is still sobering. Today’s Washington Post has an informative summary of the current situation.

“Sectarian killings and attacks — which were spiraling late last year — dropped sharply from February to April, but civilian casualties rose slightly, to more than 100 a day. Despite the early drop in sectarian killings, data from the Baghdad morgue gathered by The Washington Post in May show them returning to pre-“surge” levels last month.Suicide attacks more than doubled across Iraq — from 26 in January to 58 in April — said the report, which covers the three months from mid-February to mid-May.