America's new ambassador to Iraq expressed horror Tuesday at the level of violence wracking Iraq and said Muslim extremists and former members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party were trying to start a civil war. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said extremists cared even less for Iraq and were using its people as "cannon fodder" in their quest to dominate the Muslim world. "Foreign terrorists and hard-line Baathists want Iraq to descend into civil war. Foreign terrorists are using the Iraqi people as cannon fodder. They care nothing about Iraq or the Iraqis. Their goal is the domination of the Islamic world and promotion of global conflict," Khalilzad was quoted as saying by The Associated Press after meeting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Khalilzad was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 16 to become the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
