The US military released a quarterly report, required by Congress in earlier military spending legislation, in which the term appears, although the military is careful not to describe Iraq as a full-fledged civil war, but rather a civil war in "some elements."
"As described in the January 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, the term 'civil war' does not adequately capture the complexity of the conflict in Iraq, which includes extensive Shi’a-on-Shi’a violence, al-Qaida and Sunni insurgent attacks on Coalition forces, and widespread criminally motivated violence," the report reads, adding, "Some elements of the situation in Iraq are properly descriptive of a 'civil war,' including the hardening of ethno-sectarian identities and mobilization, the changing character of the violence and population displacements."
The last quarterly report was released in November 2006. Most of the data used in this report predate the Baghdad security plan.
The report also surveys some economic and infrastructural activity in Iraq, and criticizes government corruption and legislative inaction on key US demands such as reform of the de-Ba'thification law. It also catalogues official statistics for armed attacks, noting that four provinces (Diyala, Anbar, Baghdad, and Salah al-Din) were the site of 80% of armed attacks. The report also discusses the operational readiness of the Iraqi armed forces.
In its discussion of the security situation in the country, the report repeats earlier US allegations about the Iranian and Syrian role in Iraq.
After the release of the last quarterly report, IraqSlogger criticized the Pentagon's methods for calculating the number of attacks, writing that the military was systematically undercounting violent incidents in the country. There appears to be no change in the military's methodology in the new quarterly report, although the report does include this statement after its discussion of casualty figures:
In addition, as these data only include violence reported to or observed by Coalition forces, they only provide a partial picture of the violence experienced by Iraqis. The UN estimates civilian casualties based on the number of casualties reported by hospitals throughout the country. For the month of December, the UN estimated that more than 6,000 civilians were killed or wounded. This is about twice as many casualties as were recorded by Coalition forces.
The report can be accessed here.
