Washington - The conflict in Iraq has all the makings of a civil war, which can nonetheless be avoided, according to a US defence department report published on Friday. "Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq. Nevertheless, the current violence is not a civil war, and movement toward civil war can be prevented," said the quarterly Pentagon report to Congress. "Concern about civil war within the Iraqi civilian population and among some defence analysts has increased in recent months. "The security situation is currently at its most complex state since the initiation of Operation Iraq Freedom," the report said. In the past three months, "the average number of weekly attacks increased 15% over the previous reporting-period average, and Iraqi casualties increased by 51% compared to the previous quarter," it said, noting most of the violence occurred in Baghdad. Release of the report on Iraq, where 138 000 US troops are fighting, comes as the administration of President George W Bush launches a new spin campaign to put a better face on the increasingly unpopular war before November legislative elections. Bush recently raised the stakes of the ideological war over Iraq and flatly refused to withdraw, likening the war in Iraq to the battle against Nazism and fascism. "We're not leaving so long as I'm the president. That would be a huge mistake," said the president, whose job approval ratings have sunk partly because of the war. Vice president Dick Cheney, defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice have already fired the campaign's opening salvos, giving speeches accusing Bush's critics of failing to understand the terrorist threat to the United States. Reaction from opposition Democrats was quick. "The Pentagons new report today indicates that President Bush, Vice president Cheney and secretary Rumsfeld's speeches are increasingly disconnected from the facts on the ground in Iraq," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said. "Even the Pentagon acknowledges Iraq is tipping into civil war," he said. | 
