New York – NBC News on Monday began referring to the Iraq conflict as a civil war, adopting a term that President Bush and many other news organizations have avoided.
Matt Lauer said on the “Today” show that “after careful consideration, NBC News has decided that a change in terminology is warranted, that the situation in Iraq with armed militarized factions fighting for their own political agendas can now be characterized as civil war.”
The network’s cable news outlet, MSNBC, drummed the point home repeatedly by using the phrase “Iraq: The Civil War” on the screen.
The Los Angeles Times moved toward using the phrase this summer, carefully couching it in descriptions, but since October has been calling it a civil war, said Marjorie Miller, the newspaper’s foreign editor.
“It’s a very simple calculation,” she said. “It’s a country that’s tearing itself apart, one group against another group or several groups against several groups. What country even admits that it is in the midst of a civil war?”
Editors at The Associated Press have discussed the issue and haven’t reached a definitive stance, said John Daniszewski, international editor.
Officials at both ABC News and CBS News said they discuss the situation all the time but that there’s no network policy to use the term “civil war.”
There are different criteria for defining a civil war. Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines it simply as “war between geographical sections or political factions of the same nation.”
There are more conservative definitions. The website GlobalSecurity.org, which offers data on defense issues, said five criteria must be met: The contestants must control territory, have a functioning government, enjoy some foreign recognition, have identifiable regular armed forces and engage in major military operations.
The Bush administration said Monday that it does not believe Iraq is in a civil war and that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki does not either.
“You have not yet had a situation also where you have two clearly defined and opposing groups vying not only for power, but for territory,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said. “What you do have is sectarian violence that seems to be less aimed at gaining full control over an area than expressing differences, and also trying to destabilize a democracy – which is different than a civil war, where two sides are clashing for territory and supremacy.”
