30 May 2003
"Transition Just Beginning in Iraq," by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
(Op-ed in USA Today) (440) (This column by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld was first published May 30 in USA Today. The column is in the public domain. No republication restrictions.) (begin byliner) Transition is Just Beginning in Iraq By Donald H. Rumsfeld It is now just about seven weeks since the liberation of Iraq. Less than two months ago, Iraqis were living under a brutal regime that murdered people by the tens of thousands and piled their bodies into mass graves. Today, that cloud of fear has been lifted, and Iraqis are slowly beginning the process of taking back their country. There are serious challenges, to be sure: looting, crime, inflation, disorder. These problems are not unique to Iraq; they have occurred in every nation that has undergone the transition from tyranny to a free and civil society -- including our own. It took eight years before the Founders established our Constitution. The Iraqis have just set out on their path from a dictatorship to a more civil society. They have a solid foundation. The coalition secured the roads, bridges, dams, oil wells and infrastructure before the regime could destroy them. And today the coalition is working to restore security and stability. Gen. Tommy Franks has been increasing the number of military police in Baghdad and bringing elements of the 1st Armored Division into Iraq. There are now more than 7,000 Iraqi policemen back at work in Baghdad -- and reports of looting, curfew violations and gunfire are decreasing. Still, serious crime exists. It exists here in the U.S. as well. Baghdad is a city of some 5.5 million people, and coalition forces are dealing with the aftermath of a regime that disgorged some 100,000 criminals out of the Iraqi prisons as the regime fell. No one with a knowledge of history would expect Iraq to go from a Stalinist system to a stable and secure free nation in a matter of weeks, or even months, or to do so without facing a series of difficulties. Coalition countries are working effectively to help Iraqis restore order and essential services. It is a task that will take time and patience, trial and error. But this much is certain: The world community has a stake in Iraq's success -- because if Iraqis can build a free nation on the rubble of Saddam Hussein's tyranny, the effects on the region and the world could be significant. Less than two months after the end of the war, they are off to a reasonable start. (Donald H. Rumsfeld is secretary of Defense.) (end byliner) (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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