Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/8/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=POWELL / IRAQ-SENATE (L O)

NUMBER=2-314897

BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST

DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Secretary of State Colin Powell told senators Thursday he does not think the rebellion in Iraq by militiamen of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will lead to a broader uprising by the country's Shiite majority. In subcommittee testimony, he also rejected comparisons of the current situation in Iraq to the U-S experience in Vietnam. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

TEXT: Mr. Powell called the latest violence and the rise in U-S and coalition casualties in Iraq "disquieting."

But he said the U-S-led coalition will not be "driven out or dissuaded" by remnants of the former regime, foreign terrorists, or Moqtada al-Sadr and his supporters, who he described as "an outlaw and his mobs claiming to themselves the mantle of religion."

The secretary spoke at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing nominally on the State Department's budget request for the coming year, but dominated by the situation in Iraq and the recent surge in attacks on coalition forces led by al-Sadr supporters.

In an exchange with Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, Mr. Powell said the uprising is a "defineable" problem for U-S forces, and that he does not think Mr. al-Sadr enjoys "great support" from other Iraqi Shiite groups or from outside the country:

/// LEAHY / POWELL ACT ///

Leahy: Is it true that it goes beyond, that this is a Shiite uprising that goes beyond Sadr and his immediate followers?

Powell: It is an uprising that is originated by Sadr and his following, and the Mahdi militia which responds to him. Whether it is extended into the larger part of the Shiite community, it is not established. Now has he picked some additional individuals who weren't with him a week ago. He may have. But has he picked up the whole Shiite community? He has not.

/// END ACT ///

The secretary said a number of senior Shiite figures, including leading cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are appealing for calm, so that it is not correct to say that the attacks by al-Sadr followers reflect a massive Shiite rebellion.

At the same time, Mr. Powell said coalition forces do not want to see his "aura" or support-base grow, and the way to do that is to "smash" the Madhi militia and that is the intention of U-S commanders.

Under questioning, Mr. Powell also rejected, as unhelpful and potentially damaging, a comparison between the current situation in Iraq and the U-S experience in Vietnam, raised in recent days by Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy.

Mr. Powell, who as a junior U-S Army officer served two tours of duty there, said Vietnam was "another time and another place" and the circumstances in Iraq are quite different:

/// POWELL ACT ///

We have a people who want to be free and in a democratic society. We do not have huge state sponsors outside of Iraq flooding the place with weaponry and manpower of any kind. And I think it is not a swamp that is going devour us. It is a problem that is solvable and manageable and we need to stay the course and not contaminate the good work we are doing by comparisons with Vietnam.

/// END ACT ///

Senator Leahy, however, said that "staying the course" in Iraq is "not a viable strategy."

He said President Bush should adopt a broader multi-lateral approach to Iraq that would include a new U-N Security Council resolution calling for increased support from other nations -- especially Arab and Muslim countries -- to address the "deteriorating" security situation.

Mr. Leahy said the resolution should also call for the appointment of a U-N administrator to work closely with the Iraqi interim government due to take power June 30th to make clear, the senator said, "that this is not simply a puppet government that answers to the United States." (SIGNED)

NEB/DAG/KL