Civil War n.

Does anybody know what defines a civil war? Let me know if you do. I remember my time in the Navy patrolling the Iraqi oil platforms in the Northern Arabian Gulf. I sat one evening in the bridge of the transport tug from Port Basra lead by an Iraqi captain while the Royal Marines made their security rounds. We talked of life on shore and his hopes for Iraq. He stood smoking his cigarrette and answered some of the questions he had answered a thousand times before. "What is your overall opinion of the presence of Coalition Forces in Iraq." After talking about his family and thanking God for his present well-being, this question broke a gleaming smile. "I hope the Coalition Forces never leave", he replied. "Why?" I asked. "Because when they leave, there will be a civil war." With relatively secure conditions in the southern port town of Basra, he dreaded the day he would have to face his own nation's diverse religious and political factions as they duked it out for the ruling sceptor. Has the civil war begun? I believe many of our own politicians, to include the President himself, as they frequent the scriptures every morning have oft times read the stubbornly prophetic destiny of nations described in ... "A nation divided against itself cannot stand." So why all the debate? Que sera, sera.