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April 13, 2005
Iraqis gather to greet Rumsfeld
Chanting "No! No to terrorism!" and "No! No to America!" thousands of supporters of a radical Shiite cleric who once led uprisings against U.S. troops called Saturday for American forces to withdraw from Iraq, staging a massive protest at the same square where - two years ago to the day - protesters pulled down a towering statue of ousted Saddam Hussein.
After meeting with Iraq's newly elected leaders, Rumsfeld apparently hoped to assure the Iraqi people the U.S. had no long term designs on Iraq. Or something like that. His answer to calls for an American timetable of withdrawal:
The United States has no exit strategy or timetable for pulling out its forces from Iraq, and any withdrawal depends on the readiness of the Iraqi security forces, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on a surprise visit to Iraq today.“We don't have an exit strategy, we have a victory strategy,” Rumsfeld told U.S. reporters. “The goal is to help the Iraqi Forces develop the skills and the capacity to provide their own security.''
The Defense Secretary arrived in Baghdad before sunrise Tuesday for his second visit to Iraq in three months, and the ninth since the March 2003 invasion.
He began his day with talks on the military situation with U.S. Army General George Casey, who said that training the Iraqi security forces was going well, but noted that they’re still not ready to take full charge.
There are about 152,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen, according to the Iraqi interim government. Rumsfeld said that progress is being made in their training, without indicating when they could become fully competent.
“We have to see the institutional capacity developed so that they can take over the security responsibility,'' he said. “As that takes place, the responsibility of the coalition forces will decline and they will be able to move away and leave.''
Asked if the U.S. plans to have permanent military bases in Iraq, Rumsfeld said that this would be discussed with the Iraqi government after the draft of the permanent constitution and the outcomes of the elections, due in December.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. Defense Secretary met with the newly elected Interim President Jalal Talabani, and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Rumsfeld demanded both leaders to stick to a timetable set by interim laws passed under the previous U.S.-led occupation authority, which call for the constitution to be put to a referendum in October.
He also advised them not to allow "turbulence or incompetence or corruption" that could hamper progress toward building “democracy” and defeating the insurgency.
Posted by Mike at April 13, 2005 02:06 PM
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