farmgirl
12-06-2003, 02:32 PM
Rumsfeld Wants More Iraqi Security Forces Deployed
Sat Dec 6,11:28 AM ET
By Will Dunham
BAGHDAD (*******) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the war to oust Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), said on Saturday he wanted to further accelerate the deployment of Iraqi security forces and defended the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s handling of Iraq (news - web sites).
Rumsfeld quizzed top U.S. commanders and watched American soldiers train new Iraqi security forces in the one-day trip to Iraq, his third visit since Saddam fell in April.
Senior generals gave Rumsfeld an upbeat assessment of recent aggressive military operations against insurgents they say are led by Saddam loyalists.
"There have been a lot of people who have said 'oh my goodness, you ought to have more troops, you ought to do this, and something else ought to be done'," Rumsfeld said.
"But I am convinced that the direction that we set from the outset is the right one and that is being executed exceedingly well, and that the security circumstances in the country will be passed over time to Iraqi security forces of various types, and that they will be able to do it."
Rumsfeld has come under fire over post-war planning for Iraq, as insurgents mount daring attacks against U.S. forces and allies as well as Iraqis cooperating with the occupation.
On Friday, a bomb exploded in the middle of a busy Baghdad road as a U.S. military convoy and a minibus passed in opposite directions, killing an American soldier and four Iraqis.
The attack took to 190 the toll of U.S. service personnel killed in action in Iraq since Washington declared major combat over on May 1. Scores of Iraqis have also died in almost daily attacks by anti-American insurgents or from U.S. fire.
In the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi policeman was killed on Saturday in a drive-by shooting. Police said Omar Saleh was shot dead as he left his house to go to work. Police have often been targeted in shootings and bomb attacks in Iraq.
"The shots were fired from a vehicle with three men inside," said Lieutenant Shakr Khader, investigating officer at Saleh's local police station. "The officer was in uniform and it appears he was killed just because he was a policeman."
America's allies in Iraq have also suffered losses.
In Tokyo, Japan bade an emotional farewell to two diplomats shot dead in Iraq last weekend when they stopped at a roadside food stall near Saddam's hometown Tikrit.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed at their funeral service to carry on with efforts to help rebuild Iraq. The deaths have intensified debate in Japan over whether to go ahead with a deployment of non-combat troops to the country.
Rumsfeld said he would like to speed up the recruitment, training and deployment of Iraqis serving in various security forces backed by the United States.
Iraqi security personnel trained by the United States now outnumber the nearly 130,000 U.S. troops in the country.
"Foreign forces ultimately are unnatural, they ought not to be in a country," Rumsfeld said. The United States has made it clear that the sooner Iraqis can take responsibility for their own security, the sooner U.S. forces can withdraw.
Rumsfeld took a helicopter to a base in southern Baghdad where he watched U.S. training, looking on as a U.S. soldier showed Iraqis sitting on the floor how to clean their rifles.
ATTACKS ON TROOPS DOWN
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters that aggressive U.S. military operations had reduced attacks by insurgents to 20 per day from a peak of 50 per day. Rumsfeld said it was too soon to judge that a trend.
Brigadier General Martin Dempsey, in charge of Baghdad, said he believed one recent operation crushed a cell of insurgents responsible for an October rocket attack on a fortified hotel in the capital where U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying. Wolfowitz was not hurt.
Rumsfeld earlier flew from Georgia into the northern oil city of Kirkuk, where he said there was no chance American forces would just stumble on Saddam or other key fugitives.
U.S. forces have arrested or killed most targets on their list of the 55 most-wanted members of the former regime.
Major General Raymond Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, briefed Rumsfeld on operations in his division's territory -- north of Baghdad up to Kirkuk.
Odierno said he did not need more American troops. He said troops in his division killed about 100 insurgents this week.
Rumsfeld arrived in Kirkuk just after daybreak aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. He last visited Iraq in September.
Wearing a tan desert camouflage jacket against rain lashing the airbase, Rumsfeld had breakfast with army soldiers.
Sat Dec 6,11:28 AM ET
By Will Dunham
BAGHDAD (*******) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the war to oust Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), said on Saturday he wanted to further accelerate the deployment of Iraqi security forces and defended the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s handling of Iraq (news - web sites).
Rumsfeld quizzed top U.S. commanders and watched American soldiers train new Iraqi security forces in the one-day trip to Iraq, his third visit since Saddam fell in April.
Senior generals gave Rumsfeld an upbeat assessment of recent aggressive military operations against insurgents they say are led by Saddam loyalists.
"There have been a lot of people who have said 'oh my goodness, you ought to have more troops, you ought to do this, and something else ought to be done'," Rumsfeld said.
"But I am convinced that the direction that we set from the outset is the right one and that is being executed exceedingly well, and that the security circumstances in the country will be passed over time to Iraqi security forces of various types, and that they will be able to do it."
Rumsfeld has come under fire over post-war planning for Iraq, as insurgents mount daring attacks against U.S. forces and allies as well as Iraqis cooperating with the occupation.
On Friday, a bomb exploded in the middle of a busy Baghdad road as a U.S. military convoy and a minibus passed in opposite directions, killing an American soldier and four Iraqis.
The attack took to 190 the toll of U.S. service personnel killed in action in Iraq since Washington declared major combat over on May 1. Scores of Iraqis have also died in almost daily attacks by anti-American insurgents or from U.S. fire.
In the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi policeman was killed on Saturday in a drive-by shooting. Police said Omar Saleh was shot dead as he left his house to go to work. Police have often been targeted in shootings and bomb attacks in Iraq.
"The shots were fired from a vehicle with three men inside," said Lieutenant Shakr Khader, investigating officer at Saleh's local police station. "The officer was in uniform and it appears he was killed just because he was a policeman."
America's allies in Iraq have also suffered losses.
In Tokyo, Japan bade an emotional farewell to two diplomats shot dead in Iraq last weekend when they stopped at a roadside food stall near Saddam's hometown Tikrit.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed at their funeral service to carry on with efforts to help rebuild Iraq. The deaths have intensified debate in Japan over whether to go ahead with a deployment of non-combat troops to the country.
Rumsfeld said he would like to speed up the recruitment, training and deployment of Iraqis serving in various security forces backed by the United States.
Iraqi security personnel trained by the United States now outnumber the nearly 130,000 U.S. troops in the country.
"Foreign forces ultimately are unnatural, they ought not to be in a country," Rumsfeld said. The United States has made it clear that the sooner Iraqis can take responsibility for their own security, the sooner U.S. forces can withdraw.
Rumsfeld took a helicopter to a base in southern Baghdad where he watched U.S. training, looking on as a U.S. soldier showed Iraqis sitting on the floor how to clean their rifles.
ATTACKS ON TROOPS DOWN
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters that aggressive U.S. military operations had reduced attacks by insurgents to 20 per day from a peak of 50 per day. Rumsfeld said it was too soon to judge that a trend.
Brigadier General Martin Dempsey, in charge of Baghdad, said he believed one recent operation crushed a cell of insurgents responsible for an October rocket attack on a fortified hotel in the capital where U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying. Wolfowitz was not hurt.
Rumsfeld earlier flew from Georgia into the northern oil city of Kirkuk, where he said there was no chance American forces would just stumble on Saddam or other key fugitives.
U.S. forces have arrested or killed most targets on their list of the 55 most-wanted members of the former regime.
Major General Raymond Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, briefed Rumsfeld on operations in his division's territory -- north of Baghdad up to Kirkuk.
Odierno said he did not need more American troops. He said troops in his division killed about 100 insurgents this week.
Rumsfeld arrived in Kirkuk just after daybreak aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. He last visited Iraq in September.
Wearing a tan desert camouflage jacket against rain lashing the airbase, Rumsfeld had breakfast with army soldiers.