Iraq's civil war gaining momentum.

Masked Shiite gunmen stopped cars in western Baghdad, grabbing people from the street and separating Sunni Arabs from the rest, killing at least 37 people, police said, in a dramatic escalation of sectarian violence in the country.

The attack in the dangerous Jihad neighborhood was apparently in retaliation for the car bombing the night before of a local Shiite mosque that left two dead

Police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said 37 bodies were taken to hospitals and police were searching for more victims reportedly left dumped in the streets. He also said U.S. and Iraqi forces had sealed off the area.

CNN is reporting that this number is closer to 44.

There can be no doubt in the minds of any rational people that this country is in the grip of a civil war defined by sectarian violence. As this heats up it simply becomes a kill zone and our troops will find themselves just being targeted when they get too close to the Muslim infighting. The deaths of our troops have become secondary to the murder of these Iraqi's who were able to co-exist side by side until the American forces removed Saddam's controls.

These deaths are on our heads, just as if we were killing them ourselves.

I cannot imagine what kind of person would see this as coming to an end any time soon. This is going to get much worse and the atrocities of American troops against Iraqi's has just included them as another dangerous threat in a country becoming defined by danger.

How much longer before Iraq simply explodes?