US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld addresses US military personnel at Camp Buehring in Kuwait before their scheduled departure for Iraqi combat-zones.(AFP/Pool/Larry Downing)
US troops confront Rumsfeld over safety in Iraq
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait (AFP) - American troops waiting in the Kuwaiti desert to go into Iraq challenged US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about their safety and their future in the country.
Rumsfeld went to Camp Buehring, 20 kilometers (13 miles) from the Iraq border, to face one of the toughest question-and-answer sessions with troops since the start of the Iraq campaign in March 2003.
About 1,800 of the 10,000 troops at Camp Buehring gathered to hear the US defence chief say that Iraqis will have to take over their own security to allow foreign troops to leave after the January 30 election.
But one soldier was loudly cheered as he told Rumsfeld soldiers were "digging through landfills" to find scrap metal to bolster the hundreds of US trucks and other military vehicles that pour across the frontier into Iraq each day.
"Our soldiers have been fighting in Iraq for coming up to three years, a lot of us are getting ready to move north pretty soon," said the soldier.
"Our vehicles are not armoured. We are digging up pieces of rusting scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass that has already been shot up, dropped, busted, picking the best for our vehicles to take into combat.
"We do not have proper armour on our vehicles to carry with us north."
Rumsfeld was questioned by other troops about what would happen to US troops after the January 30 election in Iraq, about missing pay and other worries over conditions.
The camp is a major staging post for US troops heading into or out of Iraq. But it has taken on greater importance as force levels are increased ahead of the election and training has been stepped up because of the mounting insurgency.
Rumsfeld was given a rousing welcome as he entered the hangar where the so-called "town hall" meeting started.
But the challenge over armour for vehicles surprised everyone present.
Rumsfeld replied that he had discussed security for US convoys on the way to the camp and that every available armoured vehicle from around the globe was being sent to Iraq.
"It is essentially a matter of physics, it is not a matter of money, it is not a matter on the part of the army of desire. It is a matter of production and capability of doing it."
Rumsfeld added: "As you know you go to war with the army you have not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."
He said production of armoured metal has been stepped up since the Iraq conflict started.
Rumsfeld said that after a recent security alert in Washington he had looked out of his Pentagon window to see about six Humvee armoured cars outside. "They are not there any more. They are en route out here I can assure you."
No mention was made of the fact that about 1,000 troops have now been killed in combat in Iraq. But the defence secretary was pressed about the future of Iraq and the approximately 140,000 US troops there.
"The facts on the ground" will determine how fast troops from the United States and its coalition partners leave, he said.
Rumsfeld, who has previously said he wanted US troops out of Iraq before the end of the next four-year term of President George W. Bush, said the Iraqis now "have opportunities they never could have thought of under that vicious dictator" Saddam Hussein.
"The Iraqi people are going to have to grab a hold of their country and make their country work. In the last analysis you can't do that for someone else all you can do is create the environment that allows them to do that. That is what is happening."
The defence secretary, who attended the inauguration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday, went from the camp to a meeting with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Defence Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah.
"Kuwait is a key coalition partner in the region. We look forward to continuing our close cooperation," Rumsfeld was quoted as saying in a statement released by the US embassy in Kuwait.
"The Kuwaiti government has taken steps to block the spread of extremism by freezing terrorist assets and detaining terrorist suspects," Rumsfeld added.
From Kuwait, Rumsfeld flew on to New Delhi for talks with the government there.
US troops listen as US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld addresses them at Camp Buehring in Kuwait before their scheduled departure for Iraqi combat-zones.(AFP/Pool/Larry Downing)
