02 October 2003
Myers Says Supplemental Funding Request Vital to Iraq's Success
Defense Department Report, October 2: Iraq Operational Update
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers says President Bush's supplemental funding request for Iraq is vital to future success in that country.
Myers listed many recent successes that have occurred in Iraq as a result of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," including the reopening of every hospital in Baghdad and schools across the country, and publication of about 160 newspapers. "We have really achieved numerous successes and expect the situation to continue to improve," he said during an October 2 briefing at the Pentagon.
Myers also noted that Iraq's Governing Council has been recognized by both the Arab League and OPEC (Organization of Petroleum and Exporting Countries), and that Iraq is now the second largest member of the coalition, with 49,000 Iraqi police on duty throughout the country.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also talked about recent successes in Iraq and the need for the $87 billion President Bush has asked Congress to approve as part of the global war on terrorism. Rumsfeld said $15 billion of the supplemental is needed to repair "Iraq's starved infrastructure" while another $5 billion will help the Iraqi people take responsibility for their own security as soon as possible.
Iraq cannot come close to generating enough income now to launch itself "on a path of self-reliance without help," the defense secretary said. The United States is interested in helping "get it jump-started," he said.
Investments in Iraq such as the President is seeking "are a critical element in the coalition strategy," Rumsfeld said. "The sooner the Iraqis can defend their own people and generate revenue," he said, "the sooner they will be self-reliant and not dependent on either foreign troops or international assistance."
If success can be achieved in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, "it is conceivable that they can also become places of peace and prosperity, and friends and allies in the battle for freedom and moderation in that part of the world. That's the goal."
Both Rumsfeld and Myers acknowledged the many challenges that remain in Iraq. Rumsfeld said there is not "a yellow brick road" leading automatically to a wonderful future. Getting there will be hard, he added.
Asked about former U.N. weapons inspector David Kay's report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Rumsfeld emphasized the fact that Kay's report to the Central Intelligence Agency is interim, only, and that he has not yet had a chance to read it.
There are still some 1,200 individuals working on the search in Iraq, he said, and they have considerable work left to do, including visiting remaining suspect sites, concluding interviews with knowledgeable Iraqis, and chasing down leads. He also said it is not clear if any intelligence regarding WMD that was relied upon in the lead up to the Iraq war was off-base, but "we will know more soon."
Asked if he was disappointed by reports that the European Union has only offered to contribute $234 million to the Iraqi cause, Rumsfeld noted that such an amount is not "chicken feed." He also said individual EU countries will also likely contribute in addition to that amount.
Asked about the infiltration of foreign forces from Syria into Iraq, Myers said: "We think we're in a much better position today than we were just two or three weeks ago." Still, he described what is going on there as "an uneven picture" with the Syrian government having taken "some steps" to halt such border crossings.
Asked to respond to the latest pronouncements out of North Korea about nuclear reprocessing, Rumsfeld expressed concern. When asked if a diplomatic solution is still possible, he replied affirmatively.
IRAQI COUNTERFEIT RING BROKEN UP
U.S. civilian and military personnel working in partnership with Iraqi police and Finance Ministry officials have successfully broken up a counterfeit printing operation in Baghdad.
An October 2 Defense Department news release quotes Defense Inspector General Joseph Schmitz as saying: "Had we not stopped this counterfeiting ring, it would have destabilized the Iraqi economy and postponed the day when economic and political order is restored to the people of Iraq."
The Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) reports that the joint effort seized counterfeit Iraqi currency worth 100 billion dinars. This was an important seizure in advance of the plan to introduce a new Iraqi currency on October 15 that will not bear the image of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Schmitz said the close cooperation of Iraqi officials, DCIS agents and U.S. military police "shows once again the emerging partnership taking place within Baghdad, the goal of which is a better future for all Iraqis."
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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