Wednesday, November 29, 2006
DUBAI (CNN) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday said Iraq's violence meets the standard of a "civil war" and that if he were heading the State Department now, he might recommend that the administration use that term to describe the carnage in the war-torn nation.
The Sunni-Shiite sectarian warfare that exploded this year and caused thousands of deaths and widespread displacement has prompted many news organizations and observers of the conflict to conclude that what is happening in Iraq now is a "civil war."
Powell's comments are significant since he was a backer of the war effort and was the top U.S. diplomat when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the Saddam Hussein government.
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