Rumsfeld says Iraqi military can deal with a civil war

In the context of the security situation in Iraq, the US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld said before a session in the US congress on Thursday that the Iraqi forces backed by the American forces can deal with a civil war, if it occurs and that dealing with the violence will be among the mission of the American forces.

Rumsfeld explained replying to a question by Senator Robert Byrd that the plan was to prevent a civil war from happening and, and if one were to occur, to have the Iraqi security forces respond to the extent that they are capable of doing so.

The sectarian acts of violence which followed the blowing up of a Shiite shrine in Samara on February 22 inflicted hundreds of killings that pushed the American officials to warn of Iraq being dragged into a comprehensive civil war.