• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Defense Department Report, December 16: Iraq Update

16 December 2005

Iraq readies for further political transition in 2006

The commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq says December 15 was a great day there because of the high volume of voters and the low level of violence.

Army General George Casey spoke to reporters at the Pentagon December 16 via videoconference and said voter turnout for the December 15 election was projected to be as high as 65 percent to 75 percent.  Representative who are elected now, he said, will lead the Iraqis for the next four years.  (See related article.)

There is much work to be done in 2006 as the new Iraqi political leaders settle in, Casey said.  The government has to form, he said, and “take the reins and get on with governing.”  The Iraqi government will face difficult political and economic challenges not only in 2006 but also for several years thereafter, he added.

On the political side, Casey said Iraq’s increasingly confident and competent leaders still must debate whether to amend the country’s new constitution and foster a discussion about the future of federalism.  He said he expects such debates “to be heated and probably divisive.”

The end of the string of elections in 2005 does not mean the insurgency has gone dormant, said the commanding general of Multi-National Force-Iraq.  But continued political successes gradually will erode the potency of the insurgency, he said.

U.S. and coalition forces will continue to carry out a dialogue with all the political and ethnic groups in Iraq in an effort “to continue to bring people away from the insurgency and into the political process,” Casey said.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reacted to Iraq’s most recent election by saying that it represents a defeat for the enemies of the Iraqi people and their legitimate government.

He told Pentagon employees at a December 15 Town Hall meeting that the election was also a defeat for those who have carried out beheadings and suicide bombings as well as those who have been intimidating and threatening others who wished to participate in the political process.

For more information about U.S. policy see Iraq’s Political Process.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)