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11 March 2003

Rumsfeld Confident of British Participation in Iraq Effort

(Secretary clarifies comments made at briefing earlier in the day)
(940)
Washington -- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld issued a clarifying
statement late March 11 saying that, in the event of war in Iraq, he
expects British forces to play an important part.
The Department of Defense issued the statement following comments by
Rumsfeld earlier in the day, when, in response to a question at a
Pentagon briefing about waning support in Britain for an invasion of
Iraq, he said a decision about the British role in any Iraqi action
was "unclear." He added that the British role in the aftermath of an
Iraqi war also was not known at this time.
"I have no doubt of the full support of the United Kingdom for the
international community's efforts to disarm Iraq," Rumsfeld said in
the clarifying statement. "In my press briefing today, I was simply
pointing out that obtaining a second United Nations Security Council
Resolution is important to the United Kingdom and that we are working
to achieve it.
"In the event that a decision to use force is made, we have every
reason to believe there will be a significant military contribution
from the United Kingdom."
In his briefing, after referring to the British parliamentary process,
Rumsfeld said "what will ultimately be decided is unclear as to their
role; that is to say, their role in the event that a decision is made
to use force. There's the second issue of their role in a post-Saddam
Hussein reconstruction process or stabilization process, which would
be a different matter. And I think until we know what the resolution
is, we won't know the answer as to what their role will be and to the
extent they're able to participate in the event the President decides
to use force, that would obviously be welcomed. To the extent they're
not, there are workarounds and they would not be involved, at least in
that phase of it."
Asked then whether the United States would consider going to war
without its closest ally, Rumsfeld replied: "That is an issue that the
president will be addressing in the days ahead, one would assume."
Discussing the Iraqi situation directly during his briefing, Rumsfeld
said Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein has shown that he is not disarming
Iraq of weapons of mass destruction or cooperating fully with U.N.
weapons inspectors as called for in U.N. resolutions, but has instead
kept up the deception that has characterized the past 12 years.
Saddam Hussein "makes a show of destroying a handful of missiles;
missiles which he claimed in his declaration did not violate U.N.
restrictions, but now admits that they do violate U.N. restrictions,"
Rumsfeld said. "Yet even as he destroys those missiles [al-Samoud 2],
he's ordered the continued production of the very same types of
missiles.
"He claims to have no chemical or biological weapons, yet we know he
continues to hide biological and chemical weapons, moving them to
different locations as often as every 12 to 24 hours, and placing them
in residential neighborhoods."
Rumsfeld said the Iraqi leader is an accomplished deceiver.
"If it becomes necessary to use military force, we know he will stop
at nothing to deceive the world by spreading lies," Rumsfeld said. "We
are taking extraordinary measures to prevent innocent casualties.
Hussein, by contrast, will seek to maximize civilian deaths and create
the false impression that coalition forces target innocent Iraqis,
which of course is not the case."
Rumsfeld said that if Saddam Hussein's record of lies and deception
from the 1991 Persian Gulf War is any indicator, then he would lie
again should there be another war.
"The only question is whether he will be believed despite his record,"
Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld also said the Pentagon is checking into why a U-2
reconnaissance flight scheduled for March 11 over Iraq was aborted
when Iraqi fighter jets threatened to fire on it. Officials with the
U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) told
the news media there was some confusion when Iraq learned that there
would be two reconnaissance planes flying a mission instead of one as
part of the ongoing U.N. weapons inspection program.
"We supplied the aircraft and were ready, and at some moment the
Iraqis asked the UNMOVIC to cancel them because there were two
[planes] instead of one or something," he said. "We want them resumed
because UNMOVIC wants them resumed."
Regardless, Rumsfeld said U.N. resolution 1441 requires complete
cooperation from Iraq with whatever UNMOVIC wants to do toward full
disarmament.
Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, said during the Pentagon briefing that the level of U.S.
military forces massed in the immediate Persian Gulf region in various
staging areas now exceeds 225,000 air, land and sea personnel.
"If the president makes the decision to do so, they stand ready to
disarm Iraq," Myers said.
Myers said these forces arrayed throughout the region are there to
support the diplomatic efforts of the president, and to keep pressure
on the Iraqi regime.
In Afghanistan, Myers said, a four-man team of three Afghan personnel
and a U.S. soldier were involved in a landmine incident early March 11
about 60 miles north of Asadabad. He said one Afghan was killed, one
was injured, and a third Afghan national and the U.S. soldier were
treated and released. The vehicle they were riding in struck a
landmine and flipped over, he said.
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)