Powell: Iraq is in a civil war

During a speech on trade in Dubai, former Secretary of State Colin Powell was asked by a CNN reporter if he agreed with NBC and the majority of most analysts that Iraq is in a state of civil war.  Colin Powell said yes, it is a civil war:

GORANI: Well, within the context of the leadersconference in Dubai and also within the context of this debate, thissemantics debate, over whether to call what is going on on in Iraq acivil war, the former Secretary of State Colin Powell says he thinks wecan call it a civil war and added if he were still heading the StateDepartment, he probably would recommend to the Bush administration thatthose terms should be used in order to come to terms with the realityon the ground.

I’m paraphrasing what he told me. This was closed to cameras andthis was something he said within the context of this academic debatewith 2 or 3,000 people watching on in the region.

Remember though, if any Administration official admits that Iraq is in a civil war, then they have an obligation to withdraw troops -- otherwise they would be going against their own word.  How do I come to that conclusion, you ask?  According to a Bush aide that spoke to Newsweek back in August, if Iraq descended into a civil war, Bush would pull troops out:

"If there's a full-blown civil war, the president isn't going to allowour forces to be caught in the crossfire," the aide said. "Butinstitutionally, the government of Iraq isn't breaking down. It's stilla unity government."

I have a funny feeling that some Administration officials will start calling this a civil war, part of an obvious attempt to distance themselves from the President and his Iraq legacy before he steps down in January of 2009.  Really though, if you were part of orchestrating a policy mess like this, wouldn't you want to run from it?  Look for the phrase "civil war" to start being used in the coming weeks by State Department and even Pentagon officials.  There are government bureaucrats that want to have jobs in 2009.

Of course, this is more than just a civil war -- it is a precursor to genocide, according to Time Magazine.