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UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan | UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday that Iraq was "almost" in a state of civil war before his scheduled teleconference with U.S. government's Iraq Study Group.
When asked by a reporter in the UN headquarters whether Iraq was in a civil war right now, Annan said "given the developments on the ground, unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there."
"In fact, we are almost there," he said hours before a scheduled teleconference with the Group, which is preparing proposed new policy options on Iraq for the Bush administration.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the daily briefing that the UN chief will soon be speaking to the Iraq Study Group, led by former U.S. Secretary-General of State James Baker and the former Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee Lee Hamilton.
He described the meeting as a "conversation" and not as testimony before the Group, adding that the Group had asked for it since September, and Annan had also spoken with his special representative for Iraq Ashraf Qazi, and with Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown.
However, Annan's remarks coincidentally echoed what NBC News said on the same day.
NBC News, a major U.S. television network, called on Monday the Iraq conflict a civil war, saying on "The Today Show" that the Iraqi government's inability to stop spiraling violence between rival factions fit its definition of civil war.
Reuters reported that several analysts said NBC's decision was important as the administration would face more pressure to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq if the U.S. public comes to view the conflict as a civil war.
Editor: Donald |
