Expert on Civil Wars Says the Conflict in Iraq is Probably Far from Over

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published October 9, 2007 at 9:16 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

If the U.S. needs to stay in Iraq to mediate a civil war, it will be many years before we are able to leave. That's the basic message a UCSD political scientist who has made modern civil wars the focu

Tom Fudge: There are many words we use to describe the situation in Ira: conflict, insurgency, civil unrest, ethnic battle. How about his one: civil war. It's an expression that supporters of America's intervention in Iraq like to avoid because it's hard to accept the fact that the United States is stuck in a civil war that it helped to create.

In fact, some of the folks who study civil war say Iraq bears all of the trademarks of the type. Barbara Walter, a political scientist at UCSD, is definitely a student of civil war. She's written three books on the subject. Recently she was in Washington to speak to government officials about what she's learned.

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Guest

Barbara Walter , professor of political science at UCSD. She's author of three books on civil war. They include Committing to Peace: The Successful Settlement of Civil Wars , Territoriality, Conflict in an Era of Globalization and Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention .