Allawi Calls Iraqi Conflict a Civil War

In a statement marking the third anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq, Iraqi ex-prime minister and pro-western darling of the Bush administration Iyad Allawi stated,

"We are losing each day an average of 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is. Iraq is in the middle of a crisis. Maybe we have not reached the point of no return yet, but we are moving towards this point. We are in a terrible civil conflict now." (story here)

To those in the Bush administration who have vehemently contested any characterization of the conflict in Iraq as a civil war, this statement may be a serious setback in their attempts to present the state of Iraq's security. As the ex-prime minister of the country, Mr. Allawi is in a good position to understand the overall standing of the country, and his statement reflects growing fears regarding the extensive sectarian violence that is devastating the country.

The article at Telegraph.co.uk reporting on Allawi's statement (link above) also included a good insight regarding the debate over whether Iraqi sectarian violence should be called civil war:

"With the situation so appalling, the argument whether a civil war is under way or not can appear to be mere semantics. Indeed, many academic models identify a civil war as an intra-state conflict with 1,000 dead. On those criteria the definition held good a long time ago."