[h1]Bush says no civil war in bloody Iraq[/h1] [p class="published-date"]By Patricia Wilson in Washington
September 02, 2006 10:47pm[/p]US PRESIDENT George W. Bush today rejected the idea that Iraq had descended into civil war [span style="text-decoration: underline;"]despite bloody sectarian fighting in Baghdad and a grim Pentagon report that found the violence was spreading[/span].[/p] Mr Bush, who has begun a new push to bolster sagging public support for the war before the September 11 anniversary and crucial US elections in November, framed the debate over Iraq as a choice between staying the course or pulling out precipitously and handing the country over to terrorists. [/p] Democrats accused him of offering up public relations campaigns instead of sound policies. [/p] Mr Bush cast the war as an integral part of the broader battle against terror and said defeat in Iraq would mean the next generation would face a Middle East "dominated by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons." [/p] "The terrorists understand the threat a democratic Iraq poses to their cause, so they've been fighting a bloody campaign of sectarian violence which they hope will plunge that country into a civil war," Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address. [/p] Assessing the situation in Iraq over the past three months, the Pentagon said yesterday that attacks rose by 24 per cent, Iraqi casualties soared by 51 per cent and the violence was extending north beyond Baghdad. [/p] The report acknowledged conditions that could lead to civil war were present in Iraq, but said the current conflict did not rise to that level despite attacks that claim about 120 Iraqi lives each day. [/p] "Our commanders and diplomats on the ground believe that Iraq has not descended into a civil war," Mr Bush said. "They report that only a small number of Iraqis are engaged in sectarian violence, while the overwhelming majority want peace and a normal life in a unified country." [/p] Securing Baghdad has become key to the Iraq war and the US military has increased its presence there to about 15,000 troops. Mr Bush said initial results were encouraging and the operation would expand throughout the city.[/p] In the face of critics' calls for withdrawal of the 140,000 US troops in Iraq, Mr Bush argued for staying by invoking the memory of the September11, 2001, attacks that killed almost 3000 people and portraying the current fighting as an extension of the same ideological battle. [/p] Mr Bush's radio address and a series of speeches on national security between now and September 19, when he addresses the UN [/p] General Assembly are part of an orchestrated White House offensive to rally a public that polls show is losing patience with the three-year-old Iraq war. [/p] "Rather than implementing policies that will strengthen our security at home and abroad, the administration serves up slogans and PR campaigns," Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson said in the Democratic radio response. [/p] Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fired the opening salvos before November 7 elections that will determine whether their Republican Party keeps control of the US Congress by suggesting critics might be appeasing terrorists. [/p] Mr Bush did not go that far. [/p] "Some politicians say that our best option is to pull out of Iraq," he said. "Many of these people are sincere and patriotic but they could not be more wrong." [/p] White House efforts to portray Mr Bush as a strong wartime leader in the aftermath of September11 - and Democrats as weak when it comes to protecting the country - helped fuel Republican victories in 2002 and 2004 elections. [/p] "Our president continues to resort to name-calling and fear-mongering in an attempt to distract from his failure to keep America safe," Mr Thompson said. [/p] "But sadly, Americans have seen this page of the Republican playbook before." [/p]
