The Samarra al-Askari Shrine

The bomb attack on the Shia Shrine on Wednesday morning has resulted in a pouring out of anger across Iraq. More than 100 have been killed (BBC News) in attacks on Sunni mosques, residences and citizens; including a prominent reporter who had gone to cover the attack this morning. The spectre of full-blown civil war now looms large in the country, with Iraqi politicians in crisis talks.
So, why should such an attack cause such anger, and why should it occur at all?
A mosque or a shrine is not simply a building. For many, it is the embodiment of a group identity, of a way of life, of belief. To attack such an embodiment is to attack the group. The al-Askari shrine is one such place, sacred to Shia Islam as the burial place of Imam al-Askari over one thousand years ago. The bombers knew this all too well. This bombing has caused greater loss of life, more protest, than any direct attack on an individual or group of individuals in the past. Extremism in Iraq is pushing for a welling up of fury, hate, and murder; and it is succeeding. One only has to look at the events of the past two days to see that. If events continue to spiral this may very well turn out to be the breaking of the Iraqi Government. Sunni politicians have already suspended coalition talks in protest at reprisals against their mosques and people. Dialogue is essential at times such as these. Shia and Sunni must work together to hold Iraq where it is now. Only then can the country move forward. Yet with extremists knowing all the right buttons to push, all the right targets to attack, it will take a monumental effort of co-operation to thwart the cause of the insurgency. An effort I'm not entirely sure they are, at this time and in this situation, capable of.
A stable future seems far off indeed.