03 February 2005
Defense Department Report, February 3: Iraq Update
Rumsfeld says goal is for Iraqis to secure country, not coalition
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the goal is for Iraqis, not coalition forces, to provide the secure environment that the country needs.
"That's the path we're on," the secretary told reporters at the Pentagon February 3, just four days after millions of Iraqi cast their vote in the much-anticipated first free elections since the ouster of Saddam Hussein. That vote sent a strong message to the extremists, Rumsfeld said.
The Iraqi people will be the ones to defeat the insurgents over time, the secretary said, because they have already demonstrated they have the collective heart and courage to do so.
Rumsfeld described the unfolding Iraqi elections as a moving, personal experience. He also said that the successful outcome of the January elections will not change the agenda of hard-core insurgents like the al-Qaida-affiliated Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General Peter Pace, who stood with Rumsfeld at the Pentagon podium, said Zarqawi will be pursued in Iraq with the same vigor as Saddam Hussein.
But Zarqawi and his followers have had to confront the reality that 136,000 Iraqi security personnel (56,000 in the military, 80,000 police) formed the first and second security perimeters at 5,000 polling stations in Iraq. That was a considerable accomplishment, according to Rumsfeld.
Besides the size of available Iraqi forces, there is also the issue of capability. "Capability is a function, partly of numbers, but also of training, equipment, and it's a function of leadership and experience," the secretary said. While no one should expect these newly minted Iraqi military personnel to emerge from the training pipeline as instant "battle-hardened veterans," Rumsfeld said, Iraqi forces are making very good progress, and there are elements already operating independently.
But the secretary said there are other measures of effectiveness for the Iraqi security infrastructure, including: how to assure Iraq's chain of command is effective, how to link up the security forces of the ministries of defense and interior, and how to create an effective intelligence structure.
Following the historic election in Iraq January 30, Rumsfeld said, the United States and other countries must not abandon Iraq. He referred to President Bush's recent analysis of the evolving situation in Iraq by saying the coalition's involvement there has entered a new phase of partnership, designed to aid the Iraqis as they carry out the crucial mission of defending their nation, instead of the coalition defending the nation with assistance from Iraqi security forces.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2005&m=February&x=20050203180059sjhtrop4.390895e-03&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html
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