Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq  

    BEIJING, Nov. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. President George W. Bush says Iraq has not fallen into a civil war, The New York Times and other U.S. news outlets say it has and have begun using the term to describe the fighting in Iraq.

    The Bush administration has resisted the notion that Iraq is embroiled in a civil war for months despite a growing consensus sectarian violence has overwhelmed the country. It's a position analysts say is hard to justify. Experts predict a shift in language could deepen public discontent with U.S. involvement in Iraq.

    After NBC News' widely publicized decision on Monday to brand the conflict a civil war, several prominent newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, pointed to their use of the phrase.

    "It's hard to argue that this war does not fit the generally accepted definition of civil war," New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said in a statement.

    When quizzed at a news conference in Estonia on Tuesday, Bush said the latest bombings were part of a 9-month-old pattern of attacks by al Qaeda militants aimed at fomenting sectarian violence by provoking retaliation, not a civil war.

    White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said the Iraqis "don't talk of it as a civil war" because the army and police had not fractured along sectarian lines and the government continued to hold together.

    Analysts say the U.S. public will not tolerate troops being used as referees between warring Iraqi factions.

    MSNBC, NBC's cable network, on Tuesday displayed a graphic reading "Iraq: The Civil War" in its Iraq coverage. Other U.S. networks said they would continue reporting under broader terms like "War in Iraq."

    The shift in coverage reflects a growing consensus among foreign-policy experts that the conflict is a civil war, said American University communications professor Chris Simpson.

    "When those elites shift, the media typically follows," Simpson said. "To some extent the media do play a role in shaping that opinion, but mostly they follow it."

    The Los Angeles Times said it had adopted the term in October "without public fanfare," making it the first major news outlet to use the term.

    The Christian Science Monitor and McClatchy Newspapers, which include the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Sacramento Bee, are among the other newspapers that have described the bloodshed as a civil war.

    The New York Times said it would use the term sparingly and not to the exclusion of other labels, as the conflict also has elements of an insurgency, an occupation, a battle against terrorism and "a scene of criminal gangsterism."

    The Washington Post said it has no policy to describe the conflict.

    CNN, ABC and CBS said some of their correspondents have referred to the rising sectarian violence as a civil war, or examined the debate among experts over whether the term is appropriate.

    The decision not to label the conflict a civil war "does not in any way diminish the sheer volume of reporting we're doing from there," ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said. "That reporting certainly points toward civil war."

    A Fox News spokeswoman said, "We have no plans to change our usage."

    (Agencies)