RIGA, Nov 28: US President George Bush on Tuesday parried suggestions that Iraq had sunk into civil war, arguing that a recent upsurge in violence was part of a spiral of sectarian unrest that began nine months ago.
“We have been in this phase for a while,” Mr Bush insisted during a stop-over in Estonia on his way to the Latvian capital Riga for a NATO summit, part of a high-stakes visit to Europe and the Middle East.
“The bombing that took place recently was a part of a pattern that has been going on for about nine months,” the US leader said after holding talks with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.
Asked to explain the difference between the situation in Iraq and civil war, Mr Bush chose to highlight the role guerillas were playing in inflaming communal strife.
“No question it’s tough. There’s a lot of sectarian violence taking place, happening in my opinion because of these attacks by Al Qaeda, causing people to seek reprisals, and we will work with the Maliki government to defeat these elements,” Mr Bush told reporters.
The comments came hot on the heels of an acknowledgement on Monday made by Mr Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley that the conflict in Iraq had entered a `new phase’, characterised by increasing sectarian violence.
US media seized on Mr Hadley’s statement and dubbed the new phase outright civil war.
After stopping in Estonia, Mr Bush flew to Riga, in neighbouring Latvia, for a two-day NATO summit, likely to be dominated by the conflict in Afghanistan.
Mr Bush was due to hold meetings with Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer before taking in a cultural programme and a working dinner of heads of state.
British, Dutch and Canadian troops have been bearing the brunt of fighting against a revived Taliban resistance in southern Afghanistan.
NATO’s military commander, US General James Jones, in early September called for 1,000 combat troops, backed by about 1,500 logistical and other staff, to tackle the revived resistance, and the US is keen to convince other alliance powers to contribute more to the NATO effort.—AFP
