The Last Word Ashraf Qazi: 'Serious'--Or A Civil War?(Interview)

Byline: Malcolm Beith

Since the February bombing of the sacred Askariya Mosque in Samarra, Iraq has been consumed by sectarian violence. Hundreds have died in reprisal killings carried out by Sunni and Shia militias, while the insurgency continues to hamper efforts to form a government. But despite the evident chaos, U.S. leaders continue to insist they're seeing progress. President

George W. Bush last week hailed the city of Tall Afar as a "concrete example of success in Iraq." Former Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi was less optimistic: "If this is not a civil war, then God knows what civil war is," he said. NEWSWEEK's Malcolm Beith asked former Pakistani diplomat Ashraf Qazi, currently the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq, who just returned from the country, for his take. Excerpts:

BEITH: Allawi says that Iraq is in a state of "civil war." You've said that it is not.

QAZI: I don't want to [debate] the semantics. There is a serious sectarian situation, a serious security situation, which needs to be addressed by a broad-based government as soon as possible. As to whether you would apply a definition of civil war to the present situation is a matter that can be debated. What is important is that you have a very serious situation which has become more serious in the aftermath of the Samarra incident. That is more important than how you define it.

So what must Coalition forces and the Iraqi government do right now?

You need a broad-based approach, of which training and handing over greater responsibilities to the security forces--which includes the Army and the police--is one part. The other, of course, is dealing with the human-rights situation, and making the political process inclusive. Once you have a government and you have the Parliament--which includes more parties than it did in January--then you have a very good beginning.