The civil war thing
Crossposted from European Tribune.
Juan Cole files another objection to what he calls “the ‘US out now’ mantra”:
People often allege that the US military isn’t doing any good in Iraq and there is already a civil war. These people have never actually seen a civil war and do not appreciate the lid the US military is keeping on what could be a volcano.
Well. I for one do appreciate the latter and am skeptical of the mantra in question. Yet I also consider the current situation a civil war, as do many specialists in the field. Reports the Christian Science Monitor:
“It’s not a threat. It’s not a potential. Civil war is a fact of life there now,” says Pavel Baev, head of the Center for the Study of Civil War at the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway. He argues that until the nature of the conflict is accurately seen, good solutions cannot be found. “What’s happening in Iraq is a multidimensional conflict. There’s international terrorism, banditry, the major foreign military presence. But the civil war is the central part of it - the violent contestation for power inside the country.”
The paper notes that the standard definition of a civil war is a conflict with at least 1,000 battlefield casualties, involving a national government and at least one nonstate actor fighting for power. Iraq’s constitution, it suggests, could be seen as a draft ‘peace pact’ for warring parties.
By the way, a new deadline for a constitution has passed without agreement being reached.
