Expert: 23 militias fighting in Baghdad as civil war spreads

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- "Sectarian killings and political stalemate" have pushed Iraq deeper into into civil war, a new U.S. report released Monday said.

The report by Anthony H. Cordesman, who holds the Arleigh A. Burke chair in strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the ill-fated U.S.-led Operation Together Forward II in Baghdad had only made "slow progress in clearing the volatile neighborhoods, and the initiative lacked sufficient forces to maintain peace in cleared areas"

"Baghdad was the center of the sectarian conflict, but violence spread to surrounding towns -- particularly Baquba, Balad, and Amara -- as the civil war threatened to engulf the entire country,he report said.

The United Nations had concluded that by mid-December sectarian violence was killing 120 Iraqis a day.

"Sectarian fighting, led by the growth of some 23 militias around Baghdad, formed the foundation of the civil war," Cordesman wrote.

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