No civil war in Iraq: Bush

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush denied that Iraq was in the grips of civil war, despite a Pentagon assessment that the core conflict there is now "a struggle between Sunni and Shia extremists." "The terrorists understand the threat a democratic Iraq poses to their cause, so they've been fighting a bloody campaign of sectarian violence, which they hope will plunge that country into a civil war," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

"Our commanders and diplomats on the ground believe that Iraq has not descended into a civil war. They report that only a small number of Iraqis are engaged in sectarian violence, while the overwhelming majority want peace and a normal life in a unified country," he said. "America will stand with the Iraqi people as they protect their new freedom -- and build a democracy that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself," ...