In an interview with the BBC, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the situation in Iraq was "much worse" than a civil war.
"When we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war -- this is much worse," Annan said.
Annan also said that Iraq was more dangerous without Saddam Hussein in power.
"If I were an average Iraqi obviously I would make the same comparison -- that they had a dictator who was brutal but they had their streets, they could go out, their kids could go to school and come back home without a mother or father worrying, 'Am I going to see my child again?" Annan said.
"And the Iraqi government has not been able to bring the violence under control," Annan added.
