06 February 2005
Security Conditions To Determine Troop Stay in Iraq, Rumsfeld Says
Secretary sees Iraqi elections as possible "tipping point" toward peace
By Howard Cincotta
Washington File Special Correspondent
Washington -- The length of time U.S. troops will remain in Iraq will be based on security conditions in the country, not on a pre-arranged timetable, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in a series of television news interviews February 6.
On NBC's Meet the Press, Rumsfeld said, "We're helping to train and equip the Iraqi security forces. And the president believes, and I agree with him, that we don't want to be there any longer than we have to, but we want to be there as long as we're needed."
Iraqi security forces -- police, army, border guards, and others -- now number more than 136,000 at various levels of training and experience, the secretary said.
On ABC's This Week, Rumsfeld said, "What you need to do is have the economic progress, the political progress which is going forward in such good style, and that will determine the level of the insurgency and the level of the insurgency will determine the speed at which the Iraqi security forces will be capable of managing that level of insurgency."
Rumsfeld expressed optimism for Iraq's future following the January 30 elections and said they could serve as a "tipping point" in moving the country toward a safer, more democratic future, as has happened recently in other nations.
"TheIraqis are going to have a solution for Iraq that's an Iraqi solution. They're not going to have an American solution or an Afghan solution," he said on NBC's Meet the Press. "And the wonderful thing that's taking place is that the great sweep of human history is for freedom. And we're seeing it in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in the Palestinian Liberation Authority, in the Ukraine, in Indonesia. And what's happening is healthy. It's good."
In response to questions on ABC's This Week, Rumsfeld denied that any covert military operations are under way in Iran, and said that the Bush administration is committed to a diplomatic track in dealing with Iran's nuclear program and issues of democratic reform.
"The president has talked about Tehran and indicated that we're on a diplomatic path with them, and [is] hopeful that that will be successful," Rumsfeld said on CBS's Face the Nation. "My concern in Iraq is that to the extent a neighboring country is unhelpful, it makes our task that much more difficult."
Rumsfeld confirmed that in 2004, in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, he twice offered to resign, but that the president asked him to continue as secretary of defense.
"The consideration for me was could I be effective?" Rumsfeld said on CBS's Face the Nation. "And I made a judgment for myself that I thought I could be, but I wanted to watch the situation, because the last thing I need is to be in a position and feel I can't be effective. And I made a judgment that I could be effective."
Rumsfeld acknowledged that the army and reserve forces are under stress, but expressed confidence that the U.S. military would meet its overall recruiting and retention goals while increasing the size of the army from 33 to 43 combat brigades.
(The Washington File is a product of 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=20050206190958attocnich0.4577448&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html
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