From the outset? I think the starting point of a civil war is difficult to measure. Tens of thousands of Shia were killed in an uprising against Saddam in 1991, but I don’t think Perry or his military historian friends at NBC consider that relevant. There was outside intervention in the Russian Civil War, Spanish Civil War, andLebanese Civil War; the Japanese invaded China during the middle of that country’s civil war as well.
BTW, an important distinction between the civil wars in Spain, Russia, China, and America vs what’s happening in Iraq is that the former each had two sides fighting with the objective of gaining control over a sovereign state. It was relatively easier in those situations for foreign powers to identify a side to favor and back it. Iraq is more like Lebanon in that there are lots of smaller factions each too weak to win but well-armed enough to kill a lot of people. It’s not even clear who the sides are in Iraq, much less the relationships between them or their goals. So I question the utility of the phrase ‘civil war’, except to show how brave NBC is to use a term Bush won’t. To the extent it reminds people of the clear-cut Blue vs Gray in our own history, it’s not a helpful description.
Though if NBC intends to remind people that the process of rebuilding civilian government can take lighter toll on American life than our own civil war, I suppose it’s a valuable contrast.
The war in Iraq does give me a much greater appreciation for Robert E Lee, that’s for sure.
