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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2005/20050426_766.html
Myers: Coalition 'Definitely Winning' Against Insurgents
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 26, 2005 – The highest-ranking military official in the United States said today the coalition is "definitely winning" against insurgents in Iraq.
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said all the trend lines in Iraq show progress. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke during a Pentagon press briefing along with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
The chairman said that progress is measurable on the political, economic and security fronts. The Iraqis have held elections and are forming a government, he said. "It, by all reports, looks like it's going to be one that involves all sects and ethnic groups in Iraq, so it will be a balanced government, which gives you some hope that when they get into the development of their constitution, that that's going to be a good process," he said.
The insurgents have very little stock in Iraq, Myers said. Many local citizens are turning in the insurgents. He said that it was local Iraqis who turned in the 10 men arrested for shooting down an Mi-8 chopper that killed 11 people April 21.
"Almost any indicator you look at, the trends are up," he said. "So we're definitely winning."
Rumsfeld reinforced Myers' statements, but emphasized that it is the Iraqis and not the coalition that will ultimately defeat the insurgents.
"The Iraqis will do it not through military means solely, but by progress on the political side, and giving the Iraqi people a sense that they have a stake in that country; that they're going to be protected by a piece of paper called a constitution, for the first time in their lives; and that that paper will protect them and, therefore, they are willing to stay together as a single country and have reasonable confidence that their rights and their circumstance will not abused by any of the other elements in the country," the secretary said.
Economic progress will work against the insurgents, especially when the Iraqi people see clearly that the insurgents are actively working to retard economic growth and destroy the infrastructure.
"The Iraqis will prevail in the insurgency also because over time, it will become clearer and clearer that the insurgents have no plan; they have nothing other than killing people," Rumsfeld said. He said the insurgents are simply interested in power and returning the Iraqi people to the "ideal" life of the Caliphate, or single Islamic rule.
Finally, the Iraqis will prevail against the insurgency "because the insurgents are a mixture of unlikes," Rumsfeld said. The former regime Baathists just want power back. The terrorist followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi want to turn the clock back to the Middle Ages. The criminal element has still other objectives. "At some point, there will be a division," Rumsfeld noted.
Myers said there remain many challenges ahead, and combating an insurgency takes a long time. He said the coalition and Iraqi government must remain patient and steadfast against the enemy.
Biographies:
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
Gen. Richard B. Myers, USAF
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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2005/20050425_744.html
Homeland Security Demands Long-Term Commitment
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2005 – Zacarias Moussaoui’s guilty plea last week in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and his admission that he was training for a separate, post-9/11 attack on the White House, reveal a chilling truth about al Qaeda, the new secretary of homeland security said today.
“They are very, very patient,” Michael Chertoff said during an interview on NBC News’s “Today” show. He acknowledged that other terrorists like Moussaoui, who told a packed Alexandria, Va., courtroom April 22 that he had been selected by Osama bin Laden to fly a commercial plane into the White House, may already be in the United States, planning another attack.
“So we are looking inside the country and outside the country at sleepers or agents who are waiting, biding their time, conducting surveillance, waiting for the moment,” Chertoff said. “And it may be a moment that comes years from now when they launch their attack.”
This demands vigilance, constant monitoring of intelligence, and being “prepared for anything,” he said.
Chertoff’s main priority since assuming the top post at the Department of Homeland Security in February is “to get ourselves in a position where we do everything we can to prevent a terrorist attack,” he said.
Also critical, he said, is to ensure plans are in place to respond quickly in the event an attack does occur.
Protecting the homeland against terrorism requires putting a system in place that people can live with over the long run, he said. To do so, Chertoff said, the system must balance security requirements with concerns for freedom and privacy.
Most importantly, the American public must recognize that homeland security is a long-term commitment, Chertoff said, calling it “a marathon and not a sprint.”
Biography:
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff