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Rumsfeld says potential exists for Iraq civil war:Posted By: Theodore Taylor By Will DunhamTue Mar 7, 12:42 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday there has always been a risk Iraq could slip into a civil war but he accused the news media of exaggerating the severity of the current situation."I do not believe they're in a civil war today," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing. "There's always been a potential for a civil war. That country was held together through a repressive regime that put hundreds of thousands of human beings into mass graves." "It was held together not by a constitution, not by a piece of paper, not by respect for your fellow citizens of different religious faiths. But it was held together through force and viciousness," Rumsfeld added. Hundreds of people were killed in sectarian violence that flared after the February 22 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, one of Iraq's four holiest Shi'ite shrines, and some experts said Iraq appeared to be on a verge of civil war. The top U.S. envoy to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday saying the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 that ousted President Saddam Hussein opened a "Pandora's box" of ethnic and sectarian tensions. Pointing to the disputes over forming a national unity government and the sectarian violence, he said the "potential is there" for a full-blown Iraqi civil war. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 80 percent of Americans believe that recent sectarian violence makes civil war in Iraq likely and more than a third thought it was "very likely." In addition, 52 percent of those surveyed said the United States should begin pulling out troops. Asked whether a civil war was possible, Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters on Friday it was unlikely but, "Anything can happen." "EXAGGERATIONS" Rumsfeld, citing information from his top commander in Iraq, said the news media has exaggerated the number of attacks on mosques in the latest sectarian violence, the number of Iraqi deaths and has mischaracterized the actions of government security forces. "From what I've seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation," Rumsfeld said. "Interestingly, all of the exaggerations seem to be on one side. It isn't as though there simply have been a series of random errors on both sides of issues. On the contrary, the steady stream of errors all seem to be of the nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq." Asked whether he believed these "exaggerations" by the news media were intentional, "Oh, I can't go into people's minds." Experts have said tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Nearly three years into the war, the United States has 132,000 troops in Iraq, the Pentagon said. There have been more than 2,300 U.S. military deaths in the war, with about 17,000 troops wounded in action. Shi'ite Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the population, are ascending to political power after being oppressed under Saddam. Minority Sunni Muslims find themselves losing power after dominating the nation for decades, and Sunnis are driving the insurgency. Minority Kurds are also accruing power. "In Iraq, terrorists are obviously trying to ignite a civil war to divide that country and to demoralize the coalition that's helping them along the path toward self-government," Rumsfeld said, citing the Golden Mosque bombing as an example. Courtesy Of: Yahoo! News The information reported above is property of Yahoo! inc. and reprinted or modified with legitimate permission. We thank Yahoo! inc. for the kind cooperation with us and other shareholders. |
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