13 November 2003
No Military Threat Will Drive U.S. From Iraq, Abizaid Says
General says coalition forces will succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan
Washington -- The U.S. commander of military forces deployed in the Middle East and Southwest Asia says that no military threat will drive U.S. troops out of Iraq and that coalition forces working together will be successful in Iraq and Afghanistan.
General John Abizaid told reporters in Florida and Washington November 13 that coalition forces in Iraq are there to help the Iraqis "help themselves." Speaking via video conference from U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, the general said he does feel a great sense of urgency to secure Iraq's borders and to cut the enemy's access to money and weapons that have been fueling recent attacks against a variety of coalition targets.
The low-intensity conflict by counterinsurgents seeking to spread chaos that is under way in Iraq is primarily a result of Ba'athists operating in Baghdad, Fallujah, Tikrit, Mosul and Kirkuk, Abizaid said. They are the greatest threat to stability, he said, noting that their preferred weapons are rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, improvised detonating devices and, on occasion, small arms.
Abizaid said the current security challenges are posed by Ba'athists working with religious extremists and a small number of well-organized foreign fighters. In total, there are no more than 5,000 individuals working against the coalition, he said.
Despite his own sense of urgency to get the job done, Abizaid said, both President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld understand that there is no timetable to complete the mission in Iraq. "We are not in a rush to leave," he said, because the goal is to ensure that a moderate government emerges. Although violence has substantially increased in recent weeks, the general said the coalition will succeed in its mission in Iraq.
The Iraqis need to be in charge of their own basic security, such as policing the streets, Abizaid said, enabling U.S. forces to work outside the cities. U.S. forces, he said, should only be involved in the cities if problems occur that are beyond the capability of Iraqi security forces.
Abizaid pointed out that the Iraqis now make up the second-largest contingent of forces in the coalition. He said the 13,000-member Iraqi Civil Defense Corps will grow to 40,000 by year's end and the Iraqi border police force of 4,000 will grow to 25,000, according to plans. In addition, the Iraqi police will increase from 62,000 to 71,000. Those tasked with protecting specific sites are projected to grow to 50,000, and the new Iraqi Army will account for 35,000 troops when it is "up to speed," according to the general.
Abizaid said the enemy in Iraq is not equipped to defeat the U.S. military and therefore is trying to break the United States' will by encouraging an early withdrawal before Iraq has joined the community of responsible nations. "And they won't succeed," he added.
In the broader battle against terrorism, Abizaid said, some 11,000 coalition forces, including some 5,000 International Security Assistance Forces under NATO control, are fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban members in Afghanistan.
Terrorist attacks have been occurring across the Middle East and Southwest Asia since 1996, he noted, and the armed forces of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen have all been working to subdue the terrorists.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=November&x=20031113163545htrop0.7922632&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
