Posted on 06/30/2003 3:18:19 PM PDT by Brian S
June 30
— By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday remnants of toppled President Saddam Hussein's government have coalesced into a "terrorist network" in Iraq, but rejected the notion that U.S. and British forces are facing a guerrilla war or are stuck in a quagmire.
During a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld compared the postwar situation in Iraq to the difficult path taken by the United States after declaring its independence from Britain and before establishing a new Constitution and electing a president.
Rumsfeld also accused some members of the news media, who he did not identify, of hoping Iraq becomes another Vietnam.
When a reporter identified the Vietnam War during the briefing as "your classic quagmire," Rumsfeld cut her off and said: "There are so many cartoons where people, press people, are saying, 'Is it Vietnam yet?' hoping it is and wondering if it is. And it isn't. It's a different time. It's a different era. It's a different place."
The U.S. military has launched numerous raids in recent days aimed at halting escalating attacks against the American and British troops occupying Iraq.
There has been a mounting death toll for U.S. troops since President Bush announced the end of major combat operations on May 1.
The Pentagon said 17 U.S. troops were killed by hostile fire in June. Since May 1, 65 American troops have died in Iraq, including 25 by hostile fire and 40 in a variety of vehicle accidents and other "non-hostile" incidents.
Rumsfeld said after the fall of Saddam's government, "remnants of the Baath regime and Fedayeen death squads faded into the population and have reverted to a terrorist network. We are dealing with those remnants in a forceful fashion. ... Those battles will go on for some time."
Rumsfeld said "no one raid or five raids is going to deal with the entire problem. The problem is going to be dealt with over time, as the Iraqis assume more and more responsibility for their own country." He said that "I really don't have a time line" for ending the U.S. presence in Iraq.
He said the problems in Iraq are being caused by five categories of people: remnants of Saddam's government; tens of thousands of Iraqi criminals released before the war from prisons; ordinary looters; foreigners who have entered Iraq; and "people that are being influenced by Iran."
Rumsfeld said these five groups "are all slightly different in why they are there and what they are doing," saying this trait "doesn't make it anything like a guerrilla war or an organized resistance. It makes it like five different things going on that are functioning much more like terrorists."
Rumsfeld said the United States faced "a period of chaos and confusion" in its early years, including a depression, rampant inflation, no stable currency and mob uprisings.
"It took eight years before the founders finally adopted our Constitution and inaugurated our first president," he said, adding later: "Were we in a quagmire for eight years? I would think not. We were in a process ... evolving from a monarchy into a democracy."
Rummy skewered him..
When a reporter identified the Vietnam War during the briefing as "your classic quagmire," Rumsfeld cut her off and said: "There are so many cartoons where people, press people, are saying, 'Is it Vietnam yet?' hoping it is and wondering if it is. And it isn't. It's a different time. It's a different era. It's a different place."
This was that young chick reporter who sits in the back.....Howlin you know who I mean....
During a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld compared the postwar situation in Iraq to the difficult path taken by the United States after declaring its independence from Britain and before establishing a new Constitution and electing a president.
Is he insane? That has got to be the most idiotic comparison I think ever made! That should scare even some pro war freepers.
What do you mean? What happened?
What do you mean? I have heard Tommy Franks only say positive things about Rummy.
I believe that it is more anti-republican party agenda than it is anti-American.
Richard W.
Death tolls have a way of doing that.
Those days are over.
George Bush, in his May 2, 2003 speech aboard the USS Abraham Linclon said ...
Our war against terror is proceeding according to principles that I have made clear to all: Any person involved in committing or planning terrorist attacks against the American people becomes an enemy of this country, and a target of American justice.
Any person, organization, or government that supports, protects, or harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent, and equally guilty of terrorist crimes.
Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups, and seeks or possesses weapons of mass destruction, is a grave danger to the civilized world, and will be confronted.
May God bless and protect, President George W. Bush.
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