WASHINGTON – President Bush and his senior advisers sought to mark Sunday’s third anniversary of the Iraq war with declarations of progress, but found themselves embroiled in debate about whether Iraq has fallen into civil war.
In statements to reporters, appearances on Sunday morning television shows and op-ed newspaper articles, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Army Gen. George Casey, the senior U.S. military commander in Iraq, declared that the United States was making progress toward stabilizing the country and defusing sectarian tensions.
“We are implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq. And a victory in Iraq will make this country more secure and will help lay the foundation of peace for generations to come,” said Bush as he returned to the White House on Sunday after a weekend at Camp David, Md.
But those upbeat assessments faced sharp skepticism from U.S. legislators from both parties and from a senior Iraqi political leader, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who has been a staunch American ally. All contended that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
“It is unfortunate that we are in civil war,” the former prime minister told the British Broadcasting Corp. “We are losing each day, as an average, 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is.
“Maybe we have not reached the point of no return yet,” Allawi added. “But we are moving toward this point. We are in a terrible civil conflict now.”
As administration officials sought to refute the talk of civil war, other officials, also speaking on the Sunday interview programs, supported Allawi’s conclusion, including Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.
In separate television appearances, Cheney and Casey rejected Allawi’s characterization.
Cheney, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” said while terrorists in Iraq wanted to provoke civil war, “I don’t think they’ve been successful.”
“That’s been their strategy all along, but my view would be they’ve reached a stage of desperation from their standpoint,” he said.
Appearing on CNN’s “Late Edition,” Casey said the country was still “a long way from civil war.” But he also described the situation in Iraq as “fragile.”
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