USA NEWS 2006

Rumsfeld touts progress in Iraq

Some Democrats renewed calls for Rumsfeld to be removed from his post.

Rumsfeld: "Media focuses too much on negative."

Photo: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld conceded Monday that the insurgency in Iraq has been stronger than anticipated but also said the news media have focused on the war's growing body count rather than the progress that has been achieved. "To be responsible, one needs to stop defining success in Iraq as the absence of terrorist attacks," Rumsfeld said in remarks at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He added, "It's appropriate to note not only how many Americans have been killed - and may God bless them and their families - but what they died for or, more accurately, what they lived for." Continuing recent U.S. administration efforts to defend war policies, Rumsfeld said Americans should be optimistic about progress that has been made politically and militarily in Iraq, as that country prepares for next week's parliamentary election. In a change of focus, Rumsfeld also aimed some of his remarks at the media for presenting a "jarring contrast between what the American people are reading and hearing about Iraq and the views of the Iraqi people." The Iraqis, he said, are more upbeat about their country, their security forces are growing, and they are on the road to democracy. Rumsfeld's speech came five days after President George W. Bush released a strategy for victory in Iraq that was meant to better explain the U.S. mission there. It also came amid increasing discontent with the war among some members of Congress. In addition, more than half of Americans now say it was a mistake to send troops to Iraq, according to recent polls. Bush's approval on handling Iraq is at 37 per cent, the lowest yet. Pressure on the administration has grown as the number of U.S. military deaths has surpassed 2,100. Rumsfeld said focusing on that number would be as misleading as concentrating on the large numbers of casualties at battles like Iwo Jima during the Second World War, without acknowledging the victories eventually achieved. He denounced as unsubstantiated recent reports out of Iraq, including allegations from two former Iraqi detainees who said they were thrust into a cage of lions in Baghdad and then pulled out as an interrogation technique. Rumsfeld also questioned stories about a military propaganda program that secretly paid Iraqi newspapers and journalists to publish favourable articles about the war and rebuilding in Iraq. He said he didn't know if the allegations were true, and questioned whether a contractor properly implemented military policy, which was supposed to require the articles to be labelled as ads or opinion pieces. U.S. military leaders in Iraq confirmed the existence of the propaganda program last week.

"It's a classic case of blaming the messenger," said Steve Rendall, a senior analyst at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a media watchdog group in New York. "When the news is bad, blame the journalists for ignoring the good news. Rumsfeld is confusing bias with bad news. Reporting bad news is not bias." Rumsfeld acknowledged that the war has not gone according to plan, but said many things that were feared, including destruction of oil fields, have not happened. He said the insurgency was larger than some had expected, and early efforts to counter it were hampered when infantry units were not allowed to go into northern Iraq through Turkey. From Bush's declaration of an end of major combat in May 2003 to Vice-President Dick Cheney's assertion in May 2005 that the insurgency was "in the last throes," the administration has taken a positive stance. But the deadly groups, including Sunni extremists and foreign terrorists coming across the borders, have continued to kill U.S. and Iraqi forces. Some Democrats renewed calls for Rumsfeld to be removed from his post. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said U.S. troops "have been put in greater danger by the mistakes of this secretary of defence who refuses to tell the truth about what is happening in Iraq and pushes aside anyone who dares speak truth to power."-By L. Bador.

First U.S. casualties reported in offensive near Iraq-Syria border

BAGHDAD, Iraq- U.S. and Iraqi troops battled insurgents house-to-house on Monday, the third day of a major offensive against al-Qaida insurgents in a town near the Syrian border, and the U.S. command reported the first American death in the operation. The U.S. commander of the joint force, Col. Stephen Davis, said late Sunday that his troops had moved "about halfway" through Husaybah, a market town along the Euphrates River about 322 kilometres northwest of Baghdad. At least 36 insurgents have been killed since the assault began Saturday, and about 200 men have been detained, Davis said. He did not give a breakdown of nationalities of the detainees. Many were expected to be from a pro-insurgent Iraqi tribe. A U.S. marine was killed by small arms fire in Husaybah on Sunday, the military said. The New York Times, which has a journalist embedded with the U.S. forces, reported that three marines were also wounded Sunday. The death raised to at least 2,046 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. CNN, which also had a reporter accompanying the offensive, said at least one Iraqi soldier has been wounded and that as many as 80 insurgents have died in the fighting. In a live report from the scene Monday morning, CNN said the house-to-house battles were continuing, with ground forces supported by Humvees and tanks working their way through the narrow streets of the bleak desert town. Scores of terrified Iraqis fled the besieged town on Sunday, waving white flags and hauling their belongings. The U.S. military announced Monday that it had killed two regional al-Qaida in Iraq leaders operating in the Husaybah area during air strikes that destroyed several insurgent "safe houses" on Oct. 31 near the towns of Karabilah and Obeidi. It identified one of them as Abu Umar, who helped smuggle foreign insurgents into the region and stage deadly roadside bomb attacks against Iraqi and American forces. The other militant was identified as Abu Hamza, who commanded several al-Qaida cells and helped launch attacks against coalition forces, including ones based at U.S. Camp Gannon in the Husaybah area, the military said. Davis said the militants were putting up a tough fight in Husaybah because "this area is near and dear to the insurgents, particularly the foreign fighters." Speaking by telephone, he said: "This has been the first stop for foreign fighters, and this is strategic ground for them." The U.S. marines said American jets struck at least 10 targets around the town Sunday and that the American-Iraqi force was "clearing the city, house by house," taking fire from insurgents holed up in homes, mosques and schools. Residents of the area said by satellite phone that sounds of explosions diminished somewhat Sunday, although bursts of automatic weapons fire could be heard throughout the day. The residents said coalition forces warned people by loudspeakers to leave on foot because troops would fire on vehicles.

"I left everything behind - my car, my house," said Ahmed Mukhlef, 35, a teacher who fled Husaybah early Sunday with his wife and two children while carrying a white bed sheet tied to a stick. "I don't care if my house is bombed or looted, as long as I have my kids and wife safe with me." The marines said in a statement that about 450 people had taken refuge in a vacant housing area in Husaybah under the control of Iraqi forces. Others were believed to have fled to relatives in nearby towns and villages in the predominantly Sunni Arab area of Anbar province. U.S. officials have described Husaybah, which used to have a population of about 30,000, as a stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq, which is led by Jordanian extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Husaybah had long been identified as an entry point for foreign fighters, weapons and ammunition entering from Syria. From Husaybah, the fighters head down the Euphrates valley to Baghdad and other cities. -Thomas Wager