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US envoy: Iraq war opened 'Pandora's box,' civil war threat
By DPA
Mar 7, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - The 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein opened a 'Pandora's box' of ethnic and sectarian strife that has created the threat of civil war, the US ambassador to Iraq said in an interview published Tuesday.

Zalmay Khalilzad's remarks to the Los Angeles Times were one of the gloomiest and most outspoken public assessments yet of the US campaign in Iraq, contrasting with generally upbeat statements by President George W Bush and military officials.

Iraq has pulled back from the brink for now after a deadly surge of sectarian violence after the February 22 bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra, Khalilzad told the paper.

But Iraq would be 'really vulnerable' if a similar incident occurs again and the 'potential is there' for sectarian violence to become full-blown civil war, he was quoted as saying.

Khalilzad's remarks come as US military officials consider possible troop reductions in Iraq. Without commenting on that issue, he said the US must keep a strong presence in Iraq to avoid risks to Gulf energy supplies and the threat that parts of Iraq would become a base for religious extremists.

'That would make Taliban Afghanistan look like child's play,' Khalilzad, an American of Afghan descent, told the paper.

He expressed confidence that the threat of civil war in Iraq would subside once Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds form a national unity government.

'Right now there's a vacuum of authority, and there's a lot of distrust,' Khalilzad was quoted as saying.