frets5150
10-10-2004, 12:48 PM
Rumsfeld Says U.S. Faces Test of Wills in Iraq
Offers Troops a Timetable for U.S. Military Involvement
BAGHDAD (Oct. 10) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday the United States and its allies were engaged in a test of wills with insurgents in Iraq and would have to overcome the "pain and ugliness" of the conflict.
"They know they cannot defeat us militarily," Rumsfeld told about 1,500 marines gathered at an airbase in Iraq's western desert, where he arrived for a brief visit
"But they are hoping they can win the test of wills.
"It's a battle of perception. They are hoping to cause members of the coalition to decide that the pain and the ugliness and the difficulty of the task is simply too great."
The U.S. military has about 138,000 troops in Iraq, the vast majority of a 160,000-strong coalition force which is battling to suppress an insurgency that has strengthened and deepened over the 18 months since Saddam Hussein's overthrow.
Marines based in Iraq's western desert, around the rebel bastions of Falluja and Ramadi, have faced some of the toughest fighting.
"But they are hoping they can win the test of wills.
"It's a battle of perception. They are hoping to cause members of the coalition to decide that the pain and the ugliness and the difficulty of the task is simply too great."
The U.S. military has about 138,000 troops in Iraq, the vast majority of a 160,000-strong coalition force which is battling to suppress an insurgency that has strengthened and deepened over the 18 months since Saddam Hussein's overthrow.
Marines based in Iraq's western desert, around the rebel bastions of Falluja and Ramadi, have faced some of the toughest fighting.
'Relief in Sight?'
During his stop-over in western Iraq, Rumsfeld was peppered with questions by marines wondering when their deployments would be up. One asked if there was "any relief in sight."
Rumsfeld, who is now on his sixth visit to Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, said he expected an increase in violence in the run-up to elections due in January, and said troop numbers were therefore expected to stay roughly as they are.
However, he told the marines that Iraq's own security forces were being steadily strengthened, with a targeted 150,000 Iraqi police, National Guardsmen and others expected to be on duty by January, up from about 100,000 currently.
"Our hope is that as we build up Iraqi forces we will be able to relieve the stress on our forces and see a reduction in coalition forces over some period of time, probably post-Iraqi election. But again, it will depend entirely on the security situation here in this country," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld, one of the chief architects of the war to overthrow Saddam, a man whose hand he once shook in the 1980s, was due to meet top U.S. commanders inside the Green Zone in central Baghdad, a heavily fortified complex that is regularly attacked by guerrillas firing rockets and mortars.
Rumsfeld's trip comes about three weeks before the U.S. presidential election.
President Bush's Democratic challenger John Kerry has accused Bush of mismanaging the war and launching it on the pretext of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that even Washington now admits did not exist.
10-10-04 07:18 EDT
TWO QUICK STATEMENTS
1 DUMSFELD'S TRIP COMES 3 WEEKS BEFORE ELECTION.
2 WE ARE WINNING THIS WAR WHAT A FUCKING JOKE
WE ARE GETTING ARE ASSES KICKED ON THE GROUND
THE ONLY WAY WE CAN WIN IS AIR POWER.NUFF SAID
Remember the good ole days look at Dumsfeld
that lying cocksuckin sack of shit.
Offers Troops a Timetable for U.S. Military Involvement
BAGHDAD (Oct. 10) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday the United States and its allies were engaged in a test of wills with insurgents in Iraq and would have to overcome the "pain and ugliness" of the conflict.
"They know they cannot defeat us militarily," Rumsfeld told about 1,500 marines gathered at an airbase in Iraq's western desert, where he arrived for a brief visit
"But they are hoping they can win the test of wills.
"It's a battle of perception. They are hoping to cause members of the coalition to decide that the pain and the ugliness and the difficulty of the task is simply too great."
The U.S. military has about 138,000 troops in Iraq, the vast majority of a 160,000-strong coalition force which is battling to suppress an insurgency that has strengthened and deepened over the 18 months since Saddam Hussein's overthrow.
Marines based in Iraq's western desert, around the rebel bastions of Falluja and Ramadi, have faced some of the toughest fighting.
"But they are hoping they can win the test of wills.
"It's a battle of perception. They are hoping to cause members of the coalition to decide that the pain and the ugliness and the difficulty of the task is simply too great."
The U.S. military has about 138,000 troops in Iraq, the vast majority of a 160,000-strong coalition force which is battling to suppress an insurgency that has strengthened and deepened over the 18 months since Saddam Hussein's overthrow.
Marines based in Iraq's western desert, around the rebel bastions of Falluja and Ramadi, have faced some of the toughest fighting.
'Relief in Sight?'
During his stop-over in western Iraq, Rumsfeld was peppered with questions by marines wondering when their deployments would be up. One asked if there was "any relief in sight."
Rumsfeld, who is now on his sixth visit to Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, said he expected an increase in violence in the run-up to elections due in January, and said troop numbers were therefore expected to stay roughly as they are.
However, he told the marines that Iraq's own security forces were being steadily strengthened, with a targeted 150,000 Iraqi police, National Guardsmen and others expected to be on duty by January, up from about 100,000 currently.
"Our hope is that as we build up Iraqi forces we will be able to relieve the stress on our forces and see a reduction in coalition forces over some period of time, probably post-Iraqi election. But again, it will depend entirely on the security situation here in this country," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld, one of the chief architects of the war to overthrow Saddam, a man whose hand he once shook in the 1980s, was due to meet top U.S. commanders inside the Green Zone in central Baghdad, a heavily fortified complex that is regularly attacked by guerrillas firing rockets and mortars.
Rumsfeld's trip comes about three weeks before the U.S. presidential election.
President Bush's Democratic challenger John Kerry has accused Bush of mismanaging the war and launching it on the pretext of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that even Washington now admits did not exist.
10-10-04 07:18 EDT
TWO QUICK STATEMENTS
1 DUMSFELD'S TRIP COMES 3 WEEKS BEFORE ELECTION.
2 WE ARE WINNING THIS WAR WHAT A FUCKING JOKE
WE ARE GETTING ARE ASSES KICKED ON THE GROUND
THE ONLY WAY WE CAN WIN IS AIR POWER.NUFF SAID
Remember the good ole days look at Dumsfeld
that lying cocksuckin sack of shit.