Civil War, or War Against Civilians?

January 25, 2007, 2:53 pm

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There has been great debate in recent months about whether the conflict in Iraq can accurately be called a civil war. Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul Mahdi offered his view Thursday in a panel discussion at Davos chaired by Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

At the session, Mr. Mahdi dismissed the notion that his country is in a civil war, saying instead that it is facing “a war against civilians” that “targets the whole society.”

At another point in the panel, Mr. Mahdi called the occupation of Iraq an “idiot decision.”

Adnan Pachachi, a member of the Iraqi Parliament, said that while there is “room for improvement” among Iraq’s security forces in terms of their training and equipment, “the main thing is really their loyalty to the Iraqi state.” The forces, he said, must be purged of “infiltrators.”