16 December 2004
U.S. Military Envisions Reaching Its Goal in Iraq Within a Year
General Casey says insurgents offer no viable alternative vision for Iraq
Washington -- The top U.S. military commander of ground forces in Iraq says the plan to help Iraq transition to a constitutionally elected government by the end of 2005 is on track.
Army General George Casey, commander of the multinational forces in Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon December 16 that achieving the stated goal is realistic. At the same time, he acknowledged that the process to reach that goal will not be free of violence and that coalition efforts will not go uncontested.
Every day new progress is achieved in Iraq, Casey said, and daily "we and our Iraqi partners are a step closer to accomplishing our objectives." Even though the Iraqi insurgency is aggressive and violent, he reminded his audience it is not insurmountable.
All over Iraq, Casey said, there are Iraqis "fighting to throw off the mantle of terror and intimidation so that they can elect their own government and build a better life."
The Army commander said 60 percent of Iraqis are optimistic about their future and believe their country is headed in the right direction. The insurgents offer no alternative vision for Iraq other than intimidation and subjugation, he said.
In an effort to put the strength of the insurgency in perspective, Casey said that since the insurgents have been denied a safe haven in Fallujah, their effectiveness against coalition forces has diminished. He also said the levels of violence have dropped dramatically, even though insurgents are increasingly using car bombs to try to provoke coalition and Iraqi forces.
Casey said he thinks credible Iraqi elections will take place on January 30, 2005. By December 2005, he said, he fully expects there will be a constitutionally-elected government in place in Iraq that represents 25 million Iraqis. Within a year, he said, he envisions competent Iraqi security forces actively maintaining order and continuing to deny terrorists safe haven in Iraq. Each day the Iraqi security forces are growing stronger, the commander said.
But even in a post-election period, the insurgents will still be provoking coalition forces, according to Casey. Insurgencies, generally, "go on for a long period of time," he said, "and I think you'd expect to see the insurgency in Iraq go on at some level for a long time."
Casey was asked about external efforts to influence Iraqi national affairs. He said Iran poses a long-term rather than short-term strategic threat to Iraq's stability. Expressing his own personal view, he said he does not expect Iran to exert substantial influence on the government that will be elected in another month.
Casey described Syria's threat to Iraq as short-term because it is a source of foreign fighters for the insurgency and there are former senior Ba'athist leaders in Syria who are providing both direction and financing for Iraqi insurgents.
Even though Syria has taken some modest steps in addressing border control issues, Casey said the United States is really interested in seeing Syria move against top-level Ba'athists living inside Syria who are helping keep the insurgency in Iraq alive.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
