Washington ? The nation’s top general said Sunday that Iraq isn’t slipping into civil war and blamed the violence there on a “relatively small number of individuals” who he said are trying to restore “tyrannical rule.”

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there’s been progress in training Iraqi defense forces and disputed accounts, some from conservative commentators, that U.S. efforts in Iraq are failing.

“It is not a great smiley picture nor is it a disaster,” Pace said. “What it is is a very tough environment that still has a lot of work to be done but one in which we’re making very, very good progress.”

Pace disputed a steady stream of CIA assessments that the Sunni insurgency has deep roots, is likely to worsen and could lead to civil war. “I do not believe it has deep roots. I do not believe that they’re on the verge of civil war,” he said.

His more optimistic appraisal is expected to set the tone for a meeting this week for President Bush and top military commanders to assess the war and decide how many U.S. troops should remain in the country.

Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was more cautious than Pace was. “We’re not certain yet whether it’s civil war, but it could be,” Lugar said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “The question really is whether Iraqis want to be Iraqis, as opposed to Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds. “That hasn’t been decided. We’re on the cusp of a decision.”

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who abandoned his initial support for the war, said Pace mischaracterized conditions in Iraq. “We’ve made no progress at all,” he said on “Face the Nation.” “There’s two participants fighting for survival, fighting for supremacy inside that country and that’s my definition of a civil war. I think we’re not making progress; we’re caught in a civil war.”