WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new Pentagon report said some elements of the war in Iraq fit the definition of civil war, but the term "does not adequately capture the complexity of the conflict."

The war in Iraq has been characterized by fighting between the majority Shiite Muslim sect and the minority Sunni Muslims, who were in power under Saddam Hussein's regime.

But the report also cites Shiite-on-Shiite violence; al Qaeda and Sunni insurgent attacks on coalition forces, and "widespread criminally motivated violence" as features that complicate the designation of civil war.

The quarterly report, which is mandated by Congress, said attacks and casualties documented for the last three months of 2006 are the highest since the war began four years ago.

The document, dated March 2, was released on Wednesday.

Whether the conflict in Iraq amounts to a civil war has been a topic of debate in recent months.

The congressional report cites declassified parts of the recently released National Intelligence Estimate in discussing the question.

It defines "the hardening of ethno-sectarian identities and mobilization, the changing character of the violence, and population displacements," as characteristic of civil war.

The report said that the warfare in Iraq has morphed from a "predominantly Sunni-led insurgency against foreign occupation to a struggle for the division of political and economic influence among sectarian groups and organized criminal activity."

Goosey's Gabbings..

So, basically...Well of course their requests for subsidies was not paraguayan in and of it is as it were the United States government would never have if the president, our president, had not and as far as I know that's the way it will always be. Is that clear?

I agree that the term used for the war in Iraq should not be "civil war". I think a better term to use is clusterf*ck. Pardon my French. :)

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