Former PM says Iraq in civil war

LONDON (Reuters) – Iraq is in a state of civil war and is
nearing the point of no return when the country’s sectarian
violence will spill over throughout the Middle East, former
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Sunday.

Three years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam
Hussein, Iraq is in turmoil with a raging insurgency and a
surge in sectarian bloodletting between Sunni Arabs and
majority Shi’ite Muslims.

“It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing
each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country,
if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what
civil war is,” he told BBC television.

There are 133,000 U.S. troops and 8,000 British soldiers in
Iraq trying to maintain security and train local security
forces to keep a lid on the violence. Both countries reject
claims Iraq has already slid into civil war.

“Iraq is in the middle of a crisis. Maybe we have not
reached the point of no return yet. But we are moving toward
this point. We are in a terrible civil conflict now,” Allawi
said.

He said that if Iraq were to crumble, sectarian violence
would spread throughout the Middle East with Europe and the
United States also feeling the impact.