Ah views are changing in Washington when it comes to Iraq. This is pointed out in this article by Reuters:
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday there has always been a risk Iraq could slip into a civil war but he accused the news media of exaggerating the severity of the current situation.
“I do not believe they’re in a civil war today,” Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing. “There’s always been a potential for a civil war. That country was held together through a repressive regime that put hundreds of thousands of human beings into mass graves.”
A month ago Rumsfeld would of laughed at anyone even mentioning the possibility of a civil war in Iraq. Now he is saying its always a “risk of” it. In the Rumsfeld to English translation dictionary it says that “risk of” is defined as “definitely”.