Military

DATE=4/3/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=RUMSFELD/IRAQ (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-288310

BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the current Israeli-Palestinian violence is a terrible tragedy. V-O-A Pentagon Correspondent Alex Belida reports, Mr. Rumsfeld is once again blaming Iraq for helping fuel the bloodshed.

TEXT: Mr. Rumsfeld says innocent people are being killed in the Middle East.

/// RUMSFELD ACTUALITY ///

What's happening in the Middle East is terrible. It is a tragedy. It is terrorism. Innocent people are being killed, men, women and children, of all religions. You know, you go in and blow up a supermarket or a restaurant or a pizza parlor, you don't know who's in there.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Mr. Rumsfeld declines to discuss whether the violence is complicating U-S relations with countries in the region -- especially countries whose support might be critical to any possible military action against Iraq for its support of terrorism or its efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.

But the U-S Defense Secretary is again accusing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein of fueling the bloodshed in Israel by offering increased payments of 25-thousand dollars to the families of suicide bombers.

///RUMSFELD ACTUALITY///

Here is an individual who is the head of a country, Iraq, who has proudly, publicly, made a decision to go out and actively promote and finance human sacrifice for families that will have their youngsters kill innocent men, women and children.

///END ACTUALITY///

Mr. Rumsfeld says he has decided to raise the payments issue because it is important for the people of Iraq, the Middle East and the rest of the world to know what is happening. He calls the financing of suicide bombers a "particularly vicious thing to do" and a problem for the world. (Signed)

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