Sun May 16, 2004 03:04 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq is closer to civil war today than it was a year ago, Jordan's King Abdullah said on Sunday.
"It's more likely today than it was a year ago," Abdullah told American television network ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
Abdullah did not elaborate. . . . An Iraq interim government should move quickly to give the Iraqi people a sense they have a future to prevent a descent into chaos that would destabilize the entire Middle East, the Jordanian king said.
"If we see a disintegration of Iraq, if we see, God forsake, the worst scenario, civil war, then the whole region will be dragged into Iraq," he said.
He said instability would likely escalate in the run-up to a planned June 30 hand-over to the interim government. . . .
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5156474