Iraq = Civil War

NBC News (as well as MSNBC) has begun referring to Iraq as a civil war. One news story begins with "Iraq's civil war worsened Friday as Shiite and Sunni Arabs engaged in retaliatory attacks..."

But President Bush continues to deny that Iraq has been thrown into a civil war, saying "What you're seeing on TV has started last February. It was an attempt by people to foment sectarian violence...There's a lot of sectarian violence taking place, fomented in my opinion because of the attacks by Al-Qaeda causing people to seek reprisal."

So according to Mr. Bush, Iraq is not in a civil war but just in the grip of Al-Qaeda. Well then, this is a strong hold on Iraq by Al-Qaeda and it is separating the people along ethic lines. Be that separation because of reprisal attacks or out of hatred it is splitting Iraq apart; and is that not the definition of civil war?!?! According to Dictionary.com a civil war is "a war between political factions or regions within the same country." And that is exactly what is happening in Iraq. Just because President Bush does not want to believe it, many in the public will start believing it. Good job NBC News!

(UPDATE: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that Iraq's violence meets the standard of civil war and that if he were heading the State Department now, he might recommend that the administration use that term.)