Special report:
Tension escalates in
Iraq
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday that Iraq was "almost" in a state of
civil war before his scheduled teleconference with U.S. government's Iraq Study
Group.
When asked by a reporter in the UN headquarters
whether Iraq was in a civil war right now, Annan said "given the developments on
the ground, unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the
deteriorating situation, we could be there."
"In fact, we are almost there," he said hours before
a scheduled teleconference with the Group, which is preparing proposed new
policy options on Iraq for the Bush administration.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the
daily briefing that the UN chief will soon be speaking to the Iraq Study Group,
led by former U.S. Secretary-General of State James Baker and the former
Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee
Lee Hamilton.
He described the meeting as a "conversation" and not
as testimony before the Group, adding that the Group had asked for it since
September, and Annan had also spoken with his special representative for Iraq
Ashraf Qazi, and with Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown.
However, Annan's remarks coincidentally echoed what
NBC News said on the same day.
NBC News, a major U.S. television network, called on
Monday the Iraq conflict a civil war, saying on "The Today Show" that the Iraqi
government's inability to stop spiraling violence between rival factions fit its
definition of civil war.
Reuters reported that several analysts said NBC's
decision was important as the administration would face more pressure to pull
U.S. troops out of Iraq if the U.S. public comes to view the conflict as a civil
war.
White House denies Iraq
conflict a civil war
WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The White House denied on
Monday the saying by NBC, a major television network in the United States, that
Iraq has fallen into a civil war.
The situation in Iraq is serious, but neither U.S.
President George W. Bush nor Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki believe Iraq
conflict is a civil war, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe
said.
In its news program on Monday, NBC, sharing a popular
viewpoint, branded the Iraq conflict a civil war.
Jordan's King Abdullah said on Sunday that civil war was
looming in Iraq and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned on Monday that Iraq
was nearly in civil war.
Iraq has been troubled with growing violence for months.
But the Bush administration is reluctant to say that the war-torn country is in
civil war.
Sectarian violence between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims in
Iraq has increased dramatically in the past week. Multiple bombings in a Shi'ite
neighborhood of Baghdad last Thursday killed more than 200 people and drew
reprisal attacks in Sunni neighborhoods.
Violence rages in
Iraq
BAGHDAD, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi capital city of
Baghdad on Saturday remained under curfew for the second day, as gunmen raided
two Shiite homes and killed 21 men in Diyala province.
In spite of the curfew, gunfire crackled throughout the
day and an Interior Ministry official told Xinhua that mortar rounds shelled
Baghdad's several neighborhoods, including Sadr City, a Shiite militia bastion
where more than 200 people were killed on Thursday in the deadliest bombing
attacks since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Full
story>>>
