ABSTRACT
The atrocities perpetrated in Iraq happen on an almost daily basis in what has become a civil war; it is difficult to contemplate these events in a detached way. It is true that life somehow continues for the majority, but it is that very use of ‘somehow’ which tells us that mere existence has become the aim of political life – what has disappeared is that something we call civilised living. That disappearance owes much to the attacks by foreign volunteers, Shia militias and Sunni insurgents, whatever responsibility the Americans and British must assume for allowing the situation to get out of control.
