Bush denies civil war is engulfing Iraq

Story Highlights

• NEW: Bush says violence is part of a phase that started in February
• National security adviser Stephen Hadley also rejects civil war assessment
• Kirkuk provincial governor escapes a suicide attack on his convoy
• Car bombs kill four people outside a Baghdad hospital

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TALLINN, Estonia (CNN) -- President Bush on Tuesday rejected suggestions that Iraq is in civil war, calling the violence there part of an al Qaeda in Iraq plot to spark divisions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

"There's a lot of sectarian violence taking place, fomented in my opinion because of the attacks by al Qaeda, causing people to seek reprisal," he said.

Bush said slain Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had wanted to stir up trouble between Iraq's Shiite majority community and the Sunnis favored by Saddam Hussein.

He traced an increase in violence to the February bombing of a revered Shiite mosque in Samarra, north of Baghdad, saying: "We've been in this phase for a while."

Bush spoke at a news conference in Tallinn, Estonia, with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves less than a week after more than 200 people were killed in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City.

Police called it the single worst attack so far in the war.

Bush is scheduled to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan on Wednesday and Thursday, after traveling from Estonia to Latvia for a NATO summit.

White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said Bush and the Iraqi leader will be talking about "what steps Iraq needs to take and how we can support them."

Hadley also dismissed the notion that civil war has begun in Iraq.

"The Iraqis don't talk of it as a civil war. The unity government doesn't talk of it as a civil war," Hadley said. "You have not yet had a situation also where you have two clearly defined and opposing groups vying not only for power but for territory."

What distinguishes the sectarian violence from civil war is that the factions are "less aimed at gaining full control over an area than expressing differences and also trying to destabilize a democracy," Hadley said aboard Air Force One en route to Estonia on Monday.

But he added: "We're clearly in a new phase characterized by an increase in sectarian violence that requires us to adapt to that new phase," according to The Associated Press.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday said that he believes Iraq is near civil war. "Unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there. In fact we are almost there," he said. (Full story)

A role for Iran and Syria?

The Jordan summit follows Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's trip to Tehran for talks with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on how to stabilize the situation in Iraq. (Watch how Iran is vowing to help Iraq )

The United States has refused to negotiate with Iran and Syria about helping to bring stability to Iraq, accusing both Tehran and Damascus of aiding insurgent groups in Iraq.

But a draft report by the Iraq Study Group, which is considering the Bush administration's Iraq strategy, urges an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative that includes direct talks with Iran and Syria, according to The New York Times.

Hospital attacked

A U.S. commander said Tuesday that he expects to see "elevated levels of violence" in the aftermath of the carnage last week in Sadr City.

Civilian casualties "spiked dramatically" in Baghdad because of the attacks, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters.

A pair of car bombs exploded Tuesday outside a Baghdad hospital, killing at least four people and wounding 40 others, emergency police said.

The attacks took place within minutes of each other outside Yarmouk Hospital's morgue, where people were waiting to receive the bodies of relatives, according to an official with Baghdad emergency police.

One police officer died and three others were wounded.

Also Tuesday, Kirkuk provincial Gov. Abdul Rahman Mustafa survived a suicide attack on his convoy as he headed to work in the northern Iraqi city, police said. The blast wounded 18 people, including guards and civilians, police said.

Insurgents targeted key Iraqi oil sites on Monday, firing mortar rounds into an oil distribution center in northern Iraq and bombing a pipeline in a southern suburb of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said. (Full story)

Other developments

The pilot of a U.S. Air Force jet that crashed Monday outside Baghdad has not been found, the U.S. military said Tuesday. (Full story)

A U.N. working group of human rights attorneys on Tuesday called on Iraq's government not to carry out the death sentence imposed on Saddam Hussein, calling the ousted leader's trial flawed, Reuters reported.

Britain expects to withdraw "thousands" of troops from Iraq by the end of next year, British Defense Minister Des Browne said Monday, according to Reuters. (Full story)

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

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