It's all crap. Calling the conflict a "civil war" relegates everything to a futile waste of our military and we know, by now, that any attempt to do that is playing the terrorists propaganda tune.
So long as outside nation states fuel this armed conflict with soldiers weapons ,materiel and finacial support of the enormity this one is being supported with, then characterizing the conflict as a "civil war" is an outright enemy lie and all supporters of this masquerade are enemy participants...including our own MSM.
Supporting the enemy in war time is an executable offense. Better get your wills in order suckers.
Hate to seem like a downer here, but... I've got to say it. Almost everyone in my family is military, active or retired. Air Force, Marines, and Army. I went home to visit this past weekend and, as it always happens in my family, talk turned to the war. Full disclosure, I'm -not- military (I'm in law school), but everyone in my family who -is- seems to be convinced that there -is- a civil war in Iraq, and that there's not much more good we can be doing over there. I found it particularly hard to argue with my sister's fiancee, who served two tours a few years back and is now disabled.
All I can say is that outside nation states HAVE to be causing this, and I think it's high time we took a second look at Iran, Pakistan, and even the Saudis.