NBC Goes "Uncle Walter" on Iraq

If you had any doubts that Iraq is a civil war, Matt Lauer cleared that up for all of us on the Today show (h/t MediaBistro):

NBC News is now defining the conflict in Iraq as a "civil war."

On the Today Show, Matt Lauer said: "For months now the White House has rejected claims that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated into a civil war. And, for the most part, news organizations like NBC have hesitated to characterize it as such. But after careful consideration, NBC News has decided a change in terminology is warranted -- that the situation in Iraq with armed militarized factions fighting for their own political agendas -- can now be characterized as a civil war."

A moment later, in an interview with Barry McCaffrey, Lauer added: "We didn't just wake up on a Monday morning and say 'let's call this civil war.' This took careful deliberation. We consulted with a lot of people."

Do you think anybody at the White House said "if we've lost Lauer, we've lost the war." It may have worked for Uncle Walter Cronkite during Vietnam, but I saw Cronkite, Cronkite was on my TV that night in '68, and you, Matt Lauer, are no Walter Cronkite.