Poll: Most Americans Think Iraq Civil War Coming

The American people sometimes display such a native shrewdness that even the perfidious Bush administration cannot reliably fool them all the time.

Case in point, the insistence by the administration that things are improving on the ground in Iraq.

An overwhelming majority of the public believe fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq will lead to civil war and half say the U.S. should begin withdrawing its forces from that violence-torn country, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The survey found that 80 percent believed that recent sectarian violence made civil war in Iraq likely, and more than a third said such a conflict was "very likely" to occur. Expectations for an all-out sectarian war in Iraq extended beyond party lines. More than seven in 10 Republicans and eight in 10 Democrats and political independents believe civil war was likely...

The new survey reflected a sharp decline in optimism sparked by the sectarian violence that flared in Iraq since the bombings of a revered Shiite mosque two weeks ago. Since then, deadly confrontations have occurred between Shiites and Sunni, who are a minority in Iraq but were favored under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Over the last few days, the White House has sent people such as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Peter Pace out to the talk show circuit to assure people that things in Iraq are continuing to go splendidly.

This administration will continue to deny the facts of a civil war long after it becomes accepted wisdom throughout the rest of the world.

Just like Rumsfeld seeing no insurgency, just "a few dead-enders" for the entire first year of the occupation.