21 August 2002
Rumsfeld Says Attack on Iraq Would Not Harm U.S.-Russia Relations
(Defense secretary addresses Fort Hood troops August 21) (500) By David Denny Washington File Staff Writer Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says that if the United States were to attack Iraq the U.S.-Russia relationship would not be affected. After meeting August 21 with President Bush and other senior administration national security policy officials at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Rumsfeld traveled to Fort Hood, Texas, to hold a town meeting with the troops. Media coverage was open, but questions were only taken from military personnel and family members. "[M]y impression is that the Russian administration is fairly pragmatic at this stage, and their interest in the United States is greater than their interest in Iraq. And I suspect that the current leadership in Russia's interest in continuing to kind of point that country towards the West, towards Western Europe, towards North America, is a -- somewhat stronger than their old relationship with Iraq. And I therefore think it would not have an adverse effect on our relationship," Rumsfeld said. The defense secretary prefaced his remarks by noting that the president had "made no such decision that we should go into a war with Iraq. He's thinking about it, but --" Rumsfeld said, and then chuckled without finishing his sentence. Rumsfeld had harsher words for the possible effects of Russia's announcement of a $40,000 million trade agreement with Iraq. He began by saying that he did not have details of the agreement, but posited two possible effects, one on Iraq and the other on Russia. He noted that even legitimate trade with Iraq has sometimes been turned into military use, and gave as an example dump trucks that Iraq buys and then converts to carry rockets or an artillery tube. "[F]rom the standpoint of Russia, there's another effect. . To the extent that Russia decides it wants to parade its relationships with countries like Iraq and Libya and Syria and Cuba and North Korea, it sends a signal out across the globe.. [I]t hurts them, because . businesspeople can make a decision: where do they want to put a plant? Where do they want to invest? Where do they want to have a relationship? "To the extent that country is saying to the world that, in fact, they want to be known as close personal friends of Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il and those folks, it sends a signal that is harmful to them, it seems to me," Rumsfeld said. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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