On Thursday, Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Baghdad's stability could determine the future of Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported. He said the U.S. military has set a goal to eliminate insurgency cells and control ethnic militias in the Iraqi capital.

"Iraq could move toward civil war," Abizaid said. "It's vital that we turn this around."

In his testimony, Abizaid expressed concern that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been training Shi'ite groups in Iraq. He said Teheran has been paying members of the Mahdi Army, the most anti-American of Shi'ite militias in Iraq.

Officials said the U.S. military would increase its presence to 135,000 troops in Iraq over the next few weeks. They said the Defense Department's decision was meant to deploy up to 50,000 U.S. soldiers in Baghdad to prevent a collapse. They acknowledged that the U.S.-Iraqi mission could result in accelerated American casualties.

"We do have the possibility of that devolving into civil war," Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate committee. "Shi'ite and Sunni are going to have to love their children more than they hate each other. The weight of that must be on the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government."

Congress has expressed increasing concern over the breakdown in Iraq. Leading House and Senate members have warned that the U.S. military cannot be caught in the crossfire of an Iraqi civil war.

"If that were to come about, I think the American people would ask, 'Well, which side are we going to fight on? Or do we fight both? And did we send our troops there to do that?'" Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. John Warner said. '"We thought we sent them there to liberate the Iraqis, which we have done at a great sacrifice, 2,500-plus.'"

Britain, with the second largest military presence, also expects Iraq to slide into civil war. British officials said the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair has assessed that the Arab country could splinter into rival ethnic zones over the next year.

"Iraq is divided and that includes Baghdad," an official said. "Beyond the rhetoric, everybody in the coalition is looking for a way to get out before the collapse."

Officials said hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have left their homes in mixed neighborhoods to find refuge with their ethnic group. They said Shi'ites have left mostly Sunni neighborhoods amid death threats by militias.

"The prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy," outgoing British ambassador William Patey wrote in his last cable from Baghdad.

The cable, released by the British Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday, portrayed an Iraq that was breaking up into zones of foreign influence, similar to Lebanon. Patey expressed skepticism over President George Bush's assessment that Iraqi security forces could eventually assume responsibility.

"Even the lowered expectation of President [George] Bush for Iraq -- a government that can sustain itself, defend itself and govern itself and is an ally in the war on terror -- must remain in doubt," Patey said.

One prospect was that Shi'ites would form a "state within a state," similar to Hizbullah in Lebanon. Patey cited the Iranian-sponsored Shi'ite militias, particularly the Mahdi Army, that operate in Baghdad as well as central and southern Iraq.

"If we are to avoid a descent into civil war and anarchy then preventing the [Mahdi Army] from developing into a state within a state, as Hizbullah has done in Lebanon, will be a priority," the Patey cable, sent to Blair, read.

Print this Article

Email this article

Free Headline Alerts