SeattlePI: What would Iraq civil war look like?

[understandinglife]

What would Iraq civil war look like?

By CHARLES J. HANLEY
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Deep within the Pentagon, they're trying to piece together a picture of an Iraqi civil war. What would it look like? Donald Rumsfeld asks.

Here on the streets of Baghdad, it looks like hell.

Corpses, coldly executed, are turning up by the minibus-load. Mortar shells are casually lobbed into rival neighborhoods. Car bombs are killing people wholesale, while assassins hunt them down one by one.

Is it civil war? "In Iraq it is no longer a matter of definition - `civil war' or `war' or `violence' or `terrorism.' It is all of the above," said one familiar with all of the above, Beirut scholar-politician Farid Khazen, a witness to Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

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Link:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Civil_War.html

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[NanceGreggs]

1. Donald Rumsfeld asks?

One of the millions of questions he SHOULD HAVE ASKED before any of this got started.

They should Rummy to the streets of Baghdad - I'm sure the people there will be more than happy to answer his question as to what civil war looks like.

[physioex]

4. Ummmm....

I believe General Shinseki warned of this well before the invasion of Iraq and the need for sufficient man power. It took then well over three and a half years to ask this question?

[OKNancy]

2. recommended

good analysis article

[understandinglife]

3. Larry Johnson: "Smells Like Civil War?"

Is there a civil war in Iraq? Let's imagine that the events, which happened on Sunday, March 12, 2006 in and around Baghdad, occur tomorrow in and around New York City. The only thing I've changed are the place names. The events are real. Would we put up for a minute with President Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld idly dismissing these events as mere sectarian strife?

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My point is this, until we understand what is happening in Iraq in terms of what those events would mean if they happened in the United States, we are living with the delusion that Iraq's troubles are caused by grumpy reporters who just want to focus on the negative.

Much more at the link:

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/03/smells_like_civ.html

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