text: why is the bush administration so hesitant to label the iraq conflict a "civil war?"? i'm curious about why the semantics are so important.   and i'm not looking for answers like, "because they're stupid." reasonable, well-thought-out answers would be good. there are civil tensions not doubt due to religion.  but most of the killings are courtesy of syrians, iranians (mostly) and even the lebanese who have entered iraq to cause discourse.  there has been elections and a democratic, shaky but never the less still there, government in place.  this is what the iraqi people want.  they are getting better at this, but little at a time.  the fact is, most iraqi insurgents aren't even iraqis-they come from other countries.