What does it take for the media to refer to this as "a civil war"?

[RagingInMiami]

Does somebody have to declare a civil war for it to become official? What makes it officially a civil war?

In the culture of revenge that has seized Iraq, residents all over the city braced for an escalation in the cycle of retributive mayhem between the Shiites and Sunnis that has threatened to expand into civil war.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/10/world/middleeast/10iraq.html?hp&ex=1152504000&en=16036d2d3f3a77ec&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[movonne]

1. The o.k. from rove..

[PSPS]

2. They're waiting until Karl uses it in the copy he sends them.

[BillZBubb]

3. That and they need blue and gray uniforms.

The corporate media whores aren't the sharpest of tacks.

[northzax]

4. it's not really a civil war

since technically, the real firepower is still in the hands of a foriegn power (that would be the US, of course) when the US leaves (if?) then it becomes a full fledged civil war/revolution.

[RagingInMiami]

5. It's kind of like a Catch-22

We can't leave because that will tell the world we failed. But the longer we stay, the more blood that's going to be shed.

[AtomicKitten]

6. instructions from the White House, silly n/t