Colin Powell calls Iraq a civil war

[brettdale]

http://us.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/29/powell.iraq/index.html

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that Iraq's violence meets the standard of civil war and that if he were heading the State Department now, he might recommend that the administration use that term.

Many news organizations and analysts are calling the Sunni-Shiite sectarian warfare that exploded this year, killing thousands and causing widespread displacement, a civil war.

Powell's comments -- made in the United Arab Emirates at the Leaders in Dubai Business Forum -- are significant because he backed the war and was the top U.S. diplomat when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. (Watch why some call Iraq's violence a civil war Video)

Bush has avoided using the term "civil war" to describe the situation in Iraq.

[Swamp Rat]

1. Colon Bowel who?