U.S. intelligence calls Iraq violence "civil war"
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U.S. intelligence has concluded key elements of Iraq's violence could be described as a "civil war," a term Bush administration officials have been reluctant to use until now, a new report said on Friday.
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U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Iraq was in the grip of a civil war as U.S. and Iraqi forces attacked insurgent bases in a bid to shore up the authority of a governmnent itself riven by factional rivalries.
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U.S. forces backed by warplanes killed an estimated 25 insurgents in a clash north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.
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Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday his government had stopped Iraq sliding into civil war and said violence in and around Baghdad had plunged under a U.S.-backed security crackdown.
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U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Iraq was in the grip of civil war as U.S. and Iraqi forces attacked insurgent bases in a bid to shore up the authority of a government itself riven by factional rivalries.
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The situation in Iraq is perilous, with Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence surpassing al Qaeda as the most immediate threat to U.S. goals, according to a long-awaited intelligence report, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
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NBC News on Monday branded the Iraq conflict a civil war -- a decision that put it at odds with the White House and that analysts said would increase public disillusionment with the U.S. troop presence there.
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The Iraqi government has failed to take the political and military steps needed to cut sectarian violence, a U.S. congressional report said on Tuesday and a U.S. general said the next months were critical for creating security in the country.
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U.S. intelligence experts painted a gloomy picture of Iraq, saying in a report seen on Friday that sectarian bloodshed had surpassed the threat from al Qaeda and warning of the consequences of a rapid U.S. withdrawal.
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Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the U.S. military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them, and see the departure of "occupying forces" as the key to national reconciliation, according to focus groups conducted for the U.S. military last month.
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Iraqi lawmakers again put off a   divisive debate on federalism that was set for Tuesday after a   fresh wave of violence killed 50 people and prompted a warning   from the United Nations that Iraq was descending into civil   war.
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A U.N. report released on   Wednesday said the Iraq war provided al Qaeda with a training   center and recruits, reinforcing a U.S. intelligence study   blaming the conflict for a surge in Islamic extremism.
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As violence suddenly spikes in Baghdad and northern Iraq, the U.N. releases a new estimate of civilian fatalities
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A U.S. intelligence report prepared  for President Bush in July offered a gloomy outlook for Iraq  through the end of 2005, with the worst scenario being a  deterioration into civil war, government officials said on  Thursday.
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UNITED NATIONS, June 11 -- Despite the recent U.S. military buildup in Baghdad, insurgent and militia attacks persist and "civilian casualties continue to mount" in Iraq as a whole, according to a report released Monday by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
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Sectarian violence is spreading in Iraq and the security problems have become more complex than at any time since the U.S. invasion in 2003, a Pentagon report said Friday.
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U.S. forces launched a new offensive Wednesday against insurgents in an area south of the capital dubbed the "triangle of death," while militants ambushed an elite Iraqi police unit in a Baghdad neighborhood known for its loyalty to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, killing 29 people, most of them civilians.