Hadley Ignores NIE, Says White House Will Still Not Call Iraq A ‘Civil War’

At a press briefing this morning, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the White House will continue to avoid using the term “civil war” to describe events in Iraq, despite the findings of the new National Intelligence Estimate.

Hadley was pressed on the issue by ABC News’ Martha Raddatz: “Why do you go out of your way not to use that word? The president goes out of his way as well. You say labels are difficult, but is it not important — certainly any military strategist will tell you it’s important to know what kind of fight you’re in.”

Hadley justified his position by pointing to the new NIE. He said the White House will not use the term “because it’s not an adequate description of the situation we find ourselves, as the intelligence community says.” He added, “We know what kind of fight we’re in. We know the facts.”

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In fact, the NIE says that Iraq is worse than a civil war. Specifically, it says the term “civil war” “accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict,” but does not “capture the complexity of the conflict,” which also includes “extensive Shia-on-Shia violence, al-Qa’ida and Sunni insurgent attacks on Coalition forces, and widespread criminally motivated violence.”

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Transcript:

QUESTION: I want to go back to the term civil war. The administration has really gone out of its way not to use that term, civil war, in the same way that Don Rumsfeld wouldn’t call it a guerrilla war when it was or an insurgency when it was. So why do you go out of your way not to use that word? The president goes out of his way as well. You say labels are difficult, but is it not important — certainly any military strategist will tell you it’s important to know what kind of fight you’re in. Can you call it a civil war? And why haven’t you?

HADLEY: We know what kind of fight we’re in. We know the facts. That is described well in this NIE. And we have a strategy to deal with those facts and to try to succeed. I go back to you…

QUESTION: Is this a civil war?

HADLEY: I will tell you what this NIE says.

QUESTION: I want to know why you avoid…

HADLEY: The intelligence — because it’s not an adequate description of the situation we find ourselves, as the intelligence community says. The intelligence community judges the term civil war does not adequately capture the complexities of the conflict in Iraq. And what we’re doing is saying, if you’re going to run policy and if you’re going to explain it to the American people, we need to get across the complexities of the situation we face in Iraq and what is our strategy to deal with that. And simple labels don’t do that. We’re going to try and force everybody to get into the facts.