NYT’s John Burns on Civil War In Iraq

The N.Y. Times’ Baghdad bureau chief tells Bill Maher it appears “improbable” that the U.S. effort in Iraq will reach “a satisfactory conclusion.”

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“The question is just the scale of it.” So said John F. Burns, Bureau Chief of The New York Times, on Bill Maher’s live Friday night HBO program.

E&P: “…he now feels that the failure of the American effort in Iraq ‘now seems likely.’ The chances that it will reach ‘a satisfactory conclusion’ appears ‘improbable.’ “

“Asked if a civil war was developing there, Burns said, ‘It has been for some time,’ adding that it’s just a matter of ‘scale.’ He said the current U.S. leaders there–military and diplomatic–were doing their best but sectarian differences may doom the enterprise…. Burns observed that he had been on the ground for 24 hours and, of all the people he had interacted with so far, ‘no one supports this war.’ “

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