WHAT "CIVIL WAR" MEANS

Patrolling Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, where 'gators' lurk
The predominantly Sunni Arab district has become a byword for lawlessness and mayhem.
By Sam Dagher Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the March 30, 2007 edition

(Excerpts)

Several sections of Dora continue to be no-go zones for government forces. Most of the battle-hardened residents reject government authority and are enraged with the predominantly Shiite national police. They accuse it of committing innumerable atrocities over the past year of sectarian bloodletting.

Several US Army officers say the prime enemy in Dora now is angry and increasingly militant young Sunnis seeking revenge. Some are swayed by Al Qaeda and takfeeri ideology, they say. The most extreme of the fighters are believed to be holed up a few miles away in the orchards of Abu Aitha and Arab Jubur along the bend of the Tigris.

In a further twist, residents now look to the US military as a buffer between them and Iraqi forces, something that has infuriated many in the national police, even prompting accusations that the US sides with the Sunni militants.