Don dropped in on Baghdad to say 'Just write your goddamned constitution
so we can get our boys the hell out of here'.
Iraq is a failure. The US 'ticket to ride' is an Iraqi constitution. The
insurgency will rage on long after US troops tuck tail on Bush's orders.
Good job George. You fucking idiot.
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http://nytimes.com/2005/07/27/international/middleeast/27cnd-rumsfeld.html?ei=5094&en=6388bf45be90413b&hp=&ex=1122523200&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1122510209-wyC6XDGoZ+pq475M3ZCSQQ
In Surprise Visit to Baghdad, Rumsfeld Prods Iraqi Leaders
By ERIC SCHMITT
BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 27 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld urged
Iraqi political leaders today to settle their differences and agree on a
new constitution quickly, and to exert more influence with Syria and
Iran to force them to end support for the insurgency here.
Speaking to reporters en route to an unannounced visit here, Mr.
Rumsfeld laid out a remarkably blunt prescription for what Iraqi leaders
must do in the coming weeks and months to ensure that a stable, secure
and popularly elected government survives, and to allow American troops
to begin to withdraw.
Mr. Rumsfeld declined to say when conditions would permit that drawdown
to start. But the top American commander here, Gen. George W. Casey Jr.,
reaffirmed to reporters his statement in March that the Pentagon will be
able to make "some fairly substantial reductions" in troops by next
spring if the political process remains on track and Iraqi forces assume
more responsibility for securing their country.
After meeting with Mr. Rumsfeld, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said
there was no firm timetable for any American withdrawal, but he noted
that Iraqis "desire speed in that regard." He said that as Iraqi forces
improved, they would replace American troops around the country.
Security was just one of one of the broad themes that Mr. Rumsfeld
outlined first to reporters traveling with him and then to Mr. Jaafari
and other top Iraqi officials, said a senior Pentagon aide, speaking on
condition of anonymity because the meeting with the Iraqis was private.
First and foremost, Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters, was the need to stick
to a political timetable that calls for Iraqi officials to write a
constitution by Aug. 15. "We don't want any delays," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
"They're simply going to have to make the compromises necessary and get
on with it." He added, "That's what politics is about."
Any delay in the process would be "very harmful to the momentum that's
necessary," he said. "We have troops on the ground. People get killed."
Mr. Rumsfeld renewed his criticism that Syria and Iran are harboring
financiers and organizers of the insurgency, or are failing to clamp
down on fighters infiltrating into Iraq from their territory. But he
also urged Iraqi leaders to be more aggressive to stop what he called
"harmful" behavior by Iraq's two neighboring rivals.
"They need to demonstrate that they're a big country, they're a wealthy
country, that they'll be around a long time, and they don't really like
it," said Mr. Rumsfeld, adding that he would leave specific actions up
to the Iraqis.
Mr. Rumsfeld also called on the Iraqi government to assume greater
responsibility over time for the 15,000 detainees now in American
custody in Iraq; to allocate enough money in future Iraqi budgets to
field security forces that are capable of replacing many of the 22,000
foreign allied forces that plan to leave Iraq by year's end; and to
improve cooperation between the Iraqi defense and interior ministries to
enhance the combat readiness of Iraq's 170,000 military and paramilitary
police forces.
Taken together, Mr. Rumsfeld's remarks amount to perhaps the broadest
attempt to date by a senior Bush administration official to prod Iraq's
fractious mix of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political leaders to move
forward on several political, economic and security fronts.
His comments also underscore the administration's urgency in hewing to a
political process that American officials say is essential to defeat the
increasingly sophisticated and resilient insurgency, and to establish an
Iraqi government with public support. That schedule calls for Iraqis to
approve a new constitution by October and to elect a new government by
December.
It was unclear how Mr. Jaafari responded to each of Mr. Rumsfeld's half
dozen themes. At a brief news conference with Mr. Rumsfeld, the prime
minister described the discussion about the security forces and detainee
operations, but did not mention - and was not asked about - progress in
drafting the constitution.
Earlier in the day aboard a C-17 cargo plane that flew from Tajikistan,
Mr. Rumsfeld was asked whether his comments, which he ticked off from
prepared notes, suggested that the administration's efforts in Iraq were
coming down to the home stretch. "Oh, I wouldn't say that," he said. "I
just have an obligation to look ahead."
As is his policy in public, Mr. Rumsfeld refused to say when Iraq will
be safe enough to allow American troops to withdraw. He said drawing
down troops hinged on the size and strength of the insurgency,
cooperation from Syria and Iran, the ability of the Iraqi security
forces, and Iraqi public support in their new government.
Mr. Rumsfeld spent today in a whirlwind, nine-hour visit here that
included a "town hall" meeting with American troops in Balad, north of
Baghdad, a luncheon strategy session with top American commanders,
briefings with Iraqi political leaders, and a demonstration by an Iraqi
counter-terrorism unit.
It was Mr. Rumsfeld's 10th trip to Iraq since Saddam Hussein's
government's fell in April 2003 to the American invasion, and his third
so far this year.
Joining Mr. Rumsfeld and the new United States ambassador here, Zalmay
Khalilzad, at a brief news conference, General Casey painted an upbeat
picture of steadily improving Iraqi security forces pitted against an
insurgency that the general said was neither weakening nor gaining
strength.
"I wouldn't say that it's necessarily a stalemate," said General Casey.
"Insurgencies need to progress to survive, and this insurgency is not
progressing. There's been a change in tactics, to more violent, more
visible attacks against civilians. That's a no-win strategy for the
insurgents."
Mr. Rumsfeld gave his most detailed remarks aboard his plane en route to
Iraq.
He said the United States is now overseeing 15,000 detainees, a number
that has climbed sharply in recent months as more insurgents are
captured in operations but a smaller percentage are released because
they are considered higher risk.
American forces currently run detention centers at Abu Ghraib prison
outside Baghdad, Camp Bucca near Basra, and Camp Cropper, a site for
high-value detainees including Mr. Hussein, near Baghdad International
Airport. But the prison population is growing so quickly that the United
States will soon open a fourth major prison in northern Iraq. The prison
operations are requiring increasing numbers of American military police
and prison guards, who are being diverted from other jobs in Iraq.
Mr. Rumsfeld called on Iraq to provide more trainees "so that as soon as
it is feasible, we can transfer the responsibility for Iraqi prisoners
to the Iraqi government."
In another indicator that Mr. Rumsfeld is looking to an evolving
relationship with Iraq in the future, he said that American lawyers
continue to work with their Iraqi counterparts on legal agreements
covering American forces in Iraq once a new government presumably takes
control in January 2006.
Mr. Rumsfeld also said Iraq should "find opportunities" to thank allied
countries for their contributions over the past several months. He said
many countries would be paring down their forces in Iraq after the
elections, withdrawing them altogether or converting them to trainers
under a NATO training mission in Iraq.
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