09 August 2002
Rumsfeld Calls Afghanistan Model of Success for Iraq
(Defense Department report) (680) U.S. POLICY TIED TO IRAQI LIBERATION ACT Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon August 9 that U.S. policy continues to be driven by the 1998 Iraqi Liberation Act, which calls for a change of regime in Iraq. Quoting from the legislation -- passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton -- the secretary said, "It is the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime." Congress and the Executive Branch of successive presidents have expressed the desire for a change of regime in Iraq, Rumsfeld said, because Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein has sought to impose his will on neighboring countries, and Iraq has been designated as a terrorist state by the U.S. government. Asked about the U.S. policy of containing the Iraqi leader through sanctions and No-Fly Zones in southern and northern Iraq, he said the containment policy no longer works as well as it initially did. He said this is indicated by Iraq's evasions of economic sanctions and continued development of weapons of mass destruction . Rumsfeld's comments came as Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglass Feith met with representatives of the Iraqi opposition in Washington. The secretary indicated that he also hoped to meet briefly with the group, which included representatives of the Iraqi National Congress, the Iraqi National Accord, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Movement of Iraqi Kurdistan, and the Constitutional Monarchists. Asked what expectations the U.S. has for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, the secretary said, "we would like to see . a single country and not have Iraq broken up into pieces." He said he also envisions a country "that forswears weapons of mass destruction," and that invests in the interests of its people rather than in chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The secretary pointed to Afghanistan as a successful model for what could happen in Iraq if individuals were liberated, allowed to vote freely and to work. What has occurred in Afghanistan, he said, while not without concerns for the future, "is a breathtaking accomplishment." AFGHANISTAN NEEDS BROAD, ONGOING FINANCIAL SUPPORT Rumsfeld said the United States and other nations are anxious for the Afghan government to begin receiving money promised by outside sources. "There is a lot of money that hasn't been sent," he said, that needs to go to the central government so that President Karzai can begin to assert his influence throughout the country. Karzai must have the money he needs, the secretary said, to pay for the army, border patrol and police. He has to have the money to show his people in the various regions that life is better than it was under the Taliban "and they ought not to allow the Taliban to invite al-Qaida back into their country, and they ought not to turn it back into a terrorist training camp." It will take time, the secretary conceded, because liberation, freedom, and democracy are all "untidy" processes. All in all, Rumsfeld said, "It's a very good thing that's happened in Afghanistan." (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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