Maybe if a Civil War did break out in Iraq, fewer people would be killed.

At least 6,599 civilians were killed across war-torn Iraq in the months of July and August, the United Nations said.

In July at least 3,590 people were killed and in August 3,009 died in bloody attacks on civilians, according to the UN human rights report on Wednesday.

"The month of July witnessed an increase in the number of security related incidents resulting in an unprecedented number of civilians killed throughout the country," the report said.

"Although the number of killings decreased at the beginning of August, further increases were evident towards the end of the month in Baghdad and other governorates."

The country is in the grip of a bitter conflict between the newly empowered Shiite majority and the ousted Sunni Arab elite that has left thousands dead since February.

The fact that our government refuses to call this a "civil war" does not change the fact that people are dying in numbers that prove that there is indeed a conflict between the people which cannot be called anything except a war. Perhaps we should just call it an "uncivil war" because nothing that is happening seems in any way civil to me.

These people are dying horrible deaths and many of them are being painfully tortured before their lives are snuffed out. I do not see how things could get much worse for these poor people.