MR. SENOR: Ambassador Bremer met with several members of the Governing Council over the past 24 hours as part of the formal briefing of the Zarqawi memo. During these meetings he also certainly today expressed his condolences and deepest sympathies to the Iraqis for the past two tragedies that occurred over the past 24 hours. And he reinforced the message that he's conveyed all along: that we will stand with the Iraqi people as they face these cowardly terror attacks.
About an hour and a half ago, the coalition released -- formally released the full 17-page Zarqawi memo. This is a blueprint for terror in Iraq. It outlines very clearly that the blueprint calls for unleashing civil war, provoking one ethnic group in Iraq against another ethnic group with the hope of tearing the country apart. It talks about continued attacks against any individual working with the coalition.
But the document also includes a blueprint for how this terror strategy will fail. It is very clear it will fail if we continue to ramp up the number of Iraqis serving in security services. It is very clear that the terrorist strategy will fail if America continues to show its resolve the coalition has demonstrated over the past 10 months. And the terrorist strategy will fail if we hand over sovereignty to the Iraqi people on June 30th as outlined in the November 15th political agreement.
The fact that that time period is referenced specifically underscores a trend we have been seeing for some time: that the foreign terrorists coming into this country, elements associated with al Qaeda, feel threatened by the prospect of a sovereign, democratic Iraq. And that is all the more reason to continue to forge ahead in handing over more and more authority to the Iraqi people, to continue to train more and more Iraqis who are stepping forward to protect their own country.
The other encouraging detail in this memo is the frustration expressed by Mr. Zarqawi, the frustration expressed by the fact that there are so few Iraqis willing to cooperate, willing to sympathize with this terror strategy. He talks about the number of sympathizers who will bring the terrorists into their homes as being -- he characterizes them as being as rare as, quote, unquote, "red sulfur," which we believe is quite telling.
The document is available in Arabic. We have English translations for the key components, what's sort of the action plan in the document. And we are happy to take your questions.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are showing increasing acceptance of a NATO commitment in Iraq, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said.
Although several allies, including France, Germany and Belgium, opposed the US-led war, "there has been increasing acceptance that NATO does have a role to play," Powell told a congressional hearing.
The Germans, although they refused to send troops to fight in the war, do not intend to stand in the way of any allied decisions in Iraq, Powell said.
"Most NATO countries are there now," he said, "so it is not as if there is a huge reservoir of troops that suddenly becomes available when it shifts to a NATO mission."
A logical first step, he said, would be for NATO to take command of zones in Iraq where NATO members like Britain, Spain and Poland are already present in force.
"I think the easiest way to start this would be for NATO to assume responsibility for the zone...where the Poles, and the Spaniards and the UK and others are working, and that would plug right into our troops," said Powell.
"It should all take place at the time that sovereignty is transferred, and then you would have NATO working with a sovereign government," he said. "We are encouraging our NATO allies to look at this."
The current plan calls for sovereignty to be transferred to a provisional Iraqi government on June 30.
Powell said he hoped NATO would make a decision on a commitment in Iraq at its Istanbul summit earlier that same month.
NATO's current commitment in Iraq is limited to logistical support for the Polish-led multinational contingent.