The report today by James Hider, our correspondent in Baghdad, makes grim reading. The violence engulfing the western part of the capital has now become, according to a visiting US senator, a “nascent civil war”, with Sunni and Shia gunmen roaming the streets, besieging people in their houses or dragging victims from their cars to torture and shoot them in cold blood. Each new atrocity is matched by retaliation in the vortex of revenge. Those who can are fleeing abroad. Many are abandoning their houses and possessions to seek safety with relatives or co-religionists. Thousands are cowering in their homes, ready to defend themselves with firearms.

This part of the city, where Sunni and Shia live side by side, is now the focus of a bitter struggle between a once dominant Sunni majority, some of whom have made common cause with al-Qaeda terrorists, and Shia militias, which, in the face of desecration and suicide bombings, have abandoned restraint and are intent on forcing out the sect that historically has oppressed them. The senior American commander in Iraq said that death squads were retaliating against civilians and that the US may have to deploy more troops in Baghdad.

Allied forces may make little difference, however. Already they have largely disengaged from street patrols and neighbourhood policing. In the south of Iraq, the handover to full control by the Government has already begun, as British and Australian troops withdraw from Muthana province. Responsibility for security now lies with the Iraqi Army and police. Increasingly, however, control of the streets rests with the militias, loyal not to the Government but to sectarian warlords intent on “ethnic cleansing”.

In some ways, Iraq now resembles the former Yugoslavia. With the former dictatorship swept away, ancient animosities have been given free rein. Vendettas that were kept in check are now taking a deadly toll, while those who suffered oppression see the chance for revenge. Fear and foreboding are being exploited for political ends by criminals attempting to establish control over new fiefdoms. Kidnapping, extortion and robbery have placed ever more restrictions on daily life and Iraq’s economic activity.

Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, has shown resolution in trying to reverse the spiral. He has ordered curfews and flooded the streets with thousands of soldiers to confront the militias. More recently, he has announced a national reconciliation plan and promised an amnesty to Sunni insurgents while calling for the disbandment of Shia militias. Both ini-tiatives have yet to yield results. He should, however, stick to these policies. The overwhelming priority is to suppress the violence. The Government needs to be tougher, more focused and more proactive. With some 644,000 refugees in exile, Iraq is losing some of its brightest and best. Its people are resilient and determined to rebuild their lives. They must not be abandoned to the death squads, the gunmen and the mayhem now dragging sections of Baghdad, at least, towards the edge.