"If this is not civil war,"..."then God knows what civil war is."

[dajoki]

NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/politics/20war.html?hp&ex=1142830800&en=f3c0c5b8c7ee2700&ei=5094&partner=homepage

On Anniversary, Bush and Cheney See Iraq Success

By DAVID E. SANGER
and THOM SHANKER
Published: March 20, 2006

WASHINGTON, March 19 — On the third anniversary of a war that they once expected to be over by now, President Bush and senior officials argued Sunday that their strategy was working despite escalating violence in Iraq, even as a former Iraqi prime minister once favored by the White House declared a civil war had already started.

Displaying a carefully calibrated mix of optimism about eventual victory and caution about how long American troops would be involved, the officials who marked the day — including Mr. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld — sounded much as they had on the first anniversary of the invasion. At that time, the rebuilding effort had just begun, the insurgency was far less fierce, and the American occupation had suppressed, temporarily, the sectarian violence scarring Iraq today.

The picture painted by the administration clashed with that of the former interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, once hailed by Mr. Bush as the kind of fair-minded leader Iraq needed. He declared in an interview with the BBC that the country was nearing a "point of no return."

"It is unfortunate that we are in civil war," said Mr. Allawi, who served as prime minister after the American invasion and now leads a 25-seat secular alliance of representatives in Iraq's 275-seat National Assembly. "We are losing each day, as an average, 50 to 60 people through the country, if not more."

"If this is not civil war," he said, "then God knows what civil war is."

Mr. Allawi's assessment was contradicted by Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American commander in Iraq, who said on CNN's "Late Edition" that "We're a long way from civil war."

[norml]

1. I'd say that if one side wore blue, and the other side wore grey,

and they each had different flags, they'd still deny it's a civil war.

[dajoki]

2. yeah...

they'd tell us we are color blind.

[dajoki]

3. Ayad Allawi:"It is unfortunate that we are in civil war"...

Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American commander in Iraq, who said on CNN's "Late Edition" that "We're a long way from civil war."
WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?