Iraqi violence "self-sustaining": U.S. intel chief - Yahoo! News

Iraqi violence "self-sustaining": U.S. intel chief - Yahoo! News: "Fri Dec 1, 9:38 PM ET

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Sectarian violence in
Iraq has become 'self-sustaining,' increasing the challenge of stabilizing the country, the top U.S. intelligence official said on Friday.
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'Violence between the Sunnis and Shia has become self-sustaining and has spread out to a wider range of ... groups and actors,' said John Negroponte, the U.S. national intelligence director.

Negroponte, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said the violence 'presents great challenges toward Iraqi Prime Minister (Nuri) al-Maliki in trying to implement reforms geared to improve life for all Iraqis and to reverse the escalating trend of ethno-sectarian violence.

'Nonetheless, the key to moving Iraq in the direction of a fully functioning, stable democracy must come from Iraqi leaders themselves,' Negroponte said at Harvard University."