It's not a civil war. Ask anybody who doesn't want it to be one. But, when Tareq al-Hashemi, the Vice-President of Iraq utilizes the Iraqi National Guard as a front to create a Sunni militia in an effort to combat the Shiite dominated Iraqi security forces, you should at least call it something.
From The Times Online: (emphasis mine)
AMERICAN and Iraqi troops fought a pitched battle with one of Baghdad’s most powerful Shia militias yesterday as they sought to seize control of the capital back from sectarian death squads and criminal gangs.No civil war.
But as 3,700 extra US troops were deployed on the streets of Baghdad its terrified citizens, having lost faith in the Iraqi security forces, are forming their own militias.
The Times learnt yesterday that Tareq al-Hashemi, Iraq’s Sunni Vice-President, is forming a unit of the National Guard that will act as his personal bodyguard and fend off attacks against Addumiyah, a Sunni district surrounded by overwhelmingly Shia districts.
It will be the first official Sunni militia group and a counter to security forces that have been heavily infiltrated by Shia militias.
[...]
A young Sunni from west Baghdad, who refused to be identified, said that recruiting had already started for Mr al-Hashemi’s group. The initial aim was to sign up 350 former army personnel who are to be trained as part of the Defence Ministry, which will also outfit and arm them. They were being offered $700 a month.
“We all know the Shia are recruiting in their districts across the city, firstly to kill Sunnis and secondly to divide the country,” said the 26-year-old man, who said that his shop had been closed after Shia militiamen within the police force issued death threats against him and other Sunni shopkeepers in west Baghdad.
“It’ll be called a personal security guard unit for Tareq al-Hashemi to give it official cover and secure funding, but on the ground it’ll be a Sunni militia,” said the source, who is thinking of signing up.
OK. Let's try this then.
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