A Matter of Definition: What Makes a Civil War, and Who Declares

[spindrifter]

It So?

By EDWARD WONG

Published: November 26, 2006
BAGHDAD, Nov. 25 — Is Iraq in a civil war?

Though the Bush administration continues to insist that it is not, a growing number of American and Iraqi scholars, leaders and policy analysts say the fighting in Iraq meets the standard definition of civil war.

The common scholarly definition has two main criteria. The first says that the warring groups must be from the same country and fighting for control of the political center, control over a separatist state or to force a major change in policy. The second says that at least 1,000 people must have been killed in total, with at least 100 from each side.

American professors who specialize in the study of civil wars say that most of their number are in agreement that Iraq’s conflict is a civil war.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/world/middleeast/26war.html?_r=1&oref=slogin