Think Tank Says Iraq Close To Becoming 'Failed State'

(RFE/RL) May 17, 2007 -- A British think tank says Iraq is on the verge of becoming a "failed state."

In a new report, Chatham House says Iraqi society faces the risk of collapse or fragmentation.

It says there is not a single civil war in Iraq, but many civil wars and insurgencies involving a number of communities and organizations.

It also says the Iraqi government is "largely irrelevant" in Iraqi society.

Britain's Foreign Office has said that security conditions, although "grim" in some places, vary across Iraq.

(AFP, BBC)