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In the [[war in Iraq]], the "worst{{Navbar-case scenario has always been a full-blown civil war between its former Sunni ruling class and the long-oppressed Shiite majority with U.S. forces caught in the middle" and the "new worst-case scenario has [[Iran]] or [[Syria]] getting directly involved as the [[Iraq Coalition Casualty Statistics|body counts rise]]. [[Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq|Operation Iraqi security forces]] are obviously incapable of keeping the peace. Americans can't leave but don't have the numbers to impose [[martial law]] on the entire country and, in the process, expose themselves to greater risk." [http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060301/OPINION01/603010326/1069]Freedom}}
*====[[civil war in Iraq: External Links 2002 and 2003|2002 and 2003]]====*====[[civil war in Iraq: External Links 2004|2004]]====*====[[civil war in Iraq: External Links 2005|2005]]========2006====*'''[[civil war in Iraq: External Links January-March 2006|January-March 2006]]'''*'''[[civil war in Iraq: External Links April-June 2006|April-June 2006]]'''*'''[[civil war in Iraq: External Links July-December 2006|July-December 2006]]'''====[[civil war in Iraq: External Links 2007|2007]]==== == [[civil war in Iraq: Related SourceWatch Resources]] ==*In particular, also see::*[[Salvador option]]:*[[sectarian break-up of Iraq]]:*[[United States as a rogue nation]]:*[[violence in the Middle East]]:*[[War in Iraq is fueling global terrorism]]
== [[civil war in Iraq: Related SourceWatch Resources|Related SourceWatch Resources]] ==
Standardize external links headers
:*"I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence we encountered" in Iraq.—Vice President [[Dick Cheney]], [[National Press Club]] in Washington, D.C., June 19, 2006. [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=alTj0kZnWubQ&refer=us] :*"The U.S. government conducted a series of secret war games in 1999 that anticipated an [[invasion of Iraq]] would require 400,000 troops, and even then chaos might ensue."—John Heilprin, Associated Press, November 5, 2006. [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_WAR_GAMES?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT] :*"In the bleakest assessment yet of conditions in Iraq, the 10-member [[Iraq Study Group]] bluntly said President [[George W. Bush]]'s current policy 'is not working' and urged the White House to hold direct talks with regimes in [[Iran]] and [[Syria]] on ways to reduce the bloodshed," Sheldon Alberts of CanWest News Service [http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=e7c3d32e-b728-4ca8-a94e-e2a5cbb3ef81&k=83014 reported] December 7, 2006. "The panel specifically called on the White House to embark on a major diplomatic initiative before the end of December, or risk having [[Iraq]] continue its 'slide toward chaos'." "The debate is over: By any definition, Iraq is in a state of civil war. Indeed, the only thing standing between Iraq and a descent into total Bosnia-like devastation is 135,000 U.S. troops—and even they are merely slowing the fall. The internecine conflict could easily spiral into one that threatens not only Iraq but also its neighbors throughout the oil-rich Persian Gulf region with instability, turmoil and war," Daniel L. Byman and [[Kenneth M. Pollack]] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800983.html wrote] August 20, 2006, in the ''Washington Post''. "The consequences of an all-out civil war in Iraq could be dire. Considering the experiences of recent such conflicts, hundreds of thousands of people may die. Refugees and displaced people could number in the millions. And with Iraqi insurgents, militias and organized crime rings wreaking havoc on Iraq's oil infrastructure, a full-scale civil war could send global oil prices soaring even higher," Byman and Pollack wrote. "Across central Iraq, there is an exodus of people fleeing for their lives as sectarian assassins and death squads hunt them down. At ground level, Iraq is disintegrating as [[ethnic cleansing]] takes hold on a massive scale," Patrick Cockburn [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article548945.ece reported] in ''The Independent'' (UK), May 20, 2006. In the [[war in Iraq]], the "worst-case scenario has always been a full-blown civil war between its former Sunni ruling class and the long-oppressed Shiite majority with U.S. forces caught in the middle" and the "new worst-case scenario has [[Iran]] or [[Syria]] getting directly involved as the [[Iraq Coalition Casualty Statistics|body counts rise]]. [[Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq|Iraqi security forces]] are obviously incapable of keeping the peace. Americans can't leave but don't have the numbers to impose [[martial law]] on the entire country and, in the process, expose themselves to greater risk," according to a March 1, 2006, ''Detroit Free Press'' [http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060301/OPINION01/603010326/1069 editorial]. New "outbursts of violence" in a "series of suicide attacks, car bombs and mortar barrages rocked Baghdad" February 28, 2006, killing "more than 75 people" and wounding many. Two explosions on March 1, 2006, left another 26 dead and 65 wounded, as [[Iraq]] "teetered on the brink of sectarian civil war." [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/261155_domed.asp][http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/01/MNGTUHGG921.DTL][http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060228/D8G2B6EG0.html]
"The past six days of violence that have convulsed Iraq since the bombing of the al-Askariya shrine" on February 22, 2005, "could be much worse than Iraqi and Coalition officials have admitted," Chris Allbritton [http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1168677,00.html wrote] in ''TIME''. The ''Washington Post'' [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/27/AR2006022701128.html reported] February 28, 2006, "that more than 1,300 bodies had been delivered to the Baghdad morgue, directly challenging the Iraqi government’s assertion that 216 people had been killed around the country since the Wednesday bombing of the al-Askariya shrine in Samarra.
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==[[Another "new phase" of civil war in Iraq|Another "new phase" in Iraq]]==
==''Chicago Tribune'': "On the ground, it's civil war"==
"The dictionary definition says a civil war involves war between geographical sections or political factions of the same nation," Aamer Madhani [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0604140103apr14,1,1200285.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true wrote] April 14, 2006. "An estimated 30,000 Iraqis have died in violence since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. There are no accurate figures of how many were killed by U.S. troops, but slayings of Iraqis by fellow Iraqis have increased dramatically as the war has progressed.
"Many U.S. and Iraqi officials insist that the violence engulfing the country does not constitute civil war. But by any reasonable standard, 'the conflict in Iraq is a civil war,' said [[James D. Fearon|James Fearon]], a [[Stanford University]] political scientist who specializes in the study of civil conflict. 'The rate [of killings] is comparable to Sri Lanka, the Lebanese war and Bosnia,' all of which were widely regarded as civil wars," Madhani [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0604140103apr14,1,1200285.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true wrote].
"[[Larry Diamond]], a former adviser to the U.S.-led [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] in Iraq and fellow at the [[Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace]], said the question is only one of semantics. 'You can use whatever language you want to describe it, but the violence is increasing and it is becoming more vengeful and polarized,' Diamond said." [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0604140103apr14,1,1200285.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true]
==Background==
According to Spengler in the January 21, 2004 edition of the [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FA21Ak01.html ''Asia Times''], civil war in Iraq may be preferable, as well as advantageous, to the United States. After all, it asked, "which is better, to have Iraqis shooting at American soldiers, or at each other?"
*[http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/hearings/2004/hrg040420a.html "Iraq Transition: Civil War or Civil Society?"], Hearing before the [[U.S. Senate]] Committee on Foreign Relations, April 20, 2004.
== External Links links ==
===Background===
*Connie Hammond, [http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/13/2001/101/1/15 "The Gulf War never ended,"] ''Journal'', Spring 2001 (issue); ''The Free Press'', May 16, 2001.
*Stephen Zunes, [http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/13/2001/89 "Iraq: 10 Years After Gulf War,"] ''The Free Press'', October 18, 2001.
=== Articles & Commentary ===
[[category:Iraq]][[category:war in Iraq]]
