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State Dept. Says Iraq Elections Must Be Held in All Regions
By DAVID STOUT
ASHINGTON, Sept. 24 — The second-ranking official at the State Department said today, in an apparent contradiction of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, that the elections scheduled for Iraq in January must be "open to all citizens."
"We're going to have an election that is free and open," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said at a House committee hearing, "and that has to be open to all citizens."
When he was asked after the session if he knew of any plans to not old elections in particularly violent sections of Iraq, Mr. Armitage said: "I know of no changes or no plans. We're pushing ahead fully, supporting the Iraqi people and the United Nations." He went on to reiterate that those plans called for "nationwide elections for a 275-person national assembly before the end of January."
Mr. Armitage's testimony before the House Appropriations Committee's panel on foreign operations, and his comments afterward, seemed to put him at odds, at least for the moment, with Secretary Rumsfeld, who theorized before another Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday that elections might be held in only "three-quarters or four-fifths of the country" because some regions are not yet secure enough.
"So be it," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "Nothing's perfect in life."
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, seemed to foreshadow Mr. Rumsfeld's comments when he told a joint meeting of Congress earlier on Thursday, in an address that was generally upbeat, that the elections "may not be perfect."
Mr. Armitage, in his comments after today's hearing by the House Appropriations panel, seemed to try to minimize any impression of a disagreement or momentary disconnect within the administration.
Alluding to Mr. Allawi's White House appearance with President Bush as well as to the address to Congress, Mr. Armitage said that both Mr. Bush and the Iraqi leader "were crystal clear in saying that the elections were going to be held, and they'll be free and fair, and they wouldn't be perfect," adding, "We absolutely want to hold them in all parts of the country."
Any widespread impression of confusion in the administration, especially if it persists, could be damaging, since Mr. Bush's Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry, has stepped up his criticism of the administration's entire approach to Iraq. Mr. Kerry has been saying essentially that the American-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein was a misguided, reckless, go-it-alone adventure, and that Mr. Bush has no real plan for getting the United States out of Iraq.
To make things even more uncomfortable for the White House, Mr. Armitage had to listen to sharp criticism of the administration today as he appeared before the appropriations panel to request that $3.5 billion originally designated for reconstruction in Iraq be diverted for security purposes — an acknowledgment that violence had persisted longer than many people had expected.
Mr. Armitage conceded as much today. "We found that the security situation or the insurgents more virulent than we had expected," he testified, "and we need to more rapidly stand up security in order then to have enough stability to have reconstruction projects really get traction."
At another point, he said: "I think we have to acknowledge that there were several things that we didn't foresee. One was a full understanding of the tribal nature, the real importance of tribes and how to bring tribal elders into it." He added, "I don't think that I got that right, personally."
Echoing the president's admission last month that his administration had made a "miscalculation" on what the United States would face in postwar Iraq, Mr. Armitage, a Navy combat veteran of the Vietnam War, cited a military axiom: "No plan survives first contact with the enemy, and our plan didn't either."
State Dept. Says Iraq Elections Must Be Held in All Regions
By DAVID STOUT
ASHINGTON, Sept. 24 — The second-ranking official at the State Department said today, in an apparent contradiction of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, that the elections scheduled for Iraq in January must be "open to all citizens."
"We're going to have an election that is free and open," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said at a House committee hearing, "and that has to be open to all citizens."
When he was asked after the session if he knew of any plans to not old elections in particularly violent sections of Iraq, Mr. Armitage said: "I know of no changes or no plans. We're pushing ahead fully, supporting the Iraqi people and the United Nations." He went on to reiterate that those plans called for "nationwide elections for a 275-person national assembly before the end of January."
Mr. Armitage's testimony before the House Appropriations Committee's panel on foreign operations, and his comments afterward, seemed to put him at odds, at least for the moment, with Secretary Rumsfeld, who theorized before another Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday that elections might be held in only "three-quarters or four-fifths of the country" because some regions are not yet secure enough.
"So be it," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "Nothing's perfect in life."
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, seemed to foreshadow Mr. Rumsfeld's comments when he told a joint meeting of Congress earlier on Thursday, in an address that was generally upbeat, that the elections "may not be perfect."
Mr. Armitage, in his comments after today's hearing by the House Appropriations panel, seemed to try to minimize any impression of a disagreement or momentary disconnect within the administration.
Alluding to Mr. Allawi's White House appearance with President Bush as well as to the address to Congress, Mr. Armitage said that both Mr. Bush and the Iraqi leader "were crystal clear in saying that the elections were going to be held, and they'll be free and fair, and they wouldn't be perfect," adding, "We absolutely want to hold them in all parts of the country."
Any widespread impression of confusion in the administration, especially if it persists, could be damaging, since Mr. Bush's Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry, has stepped up his criticism of the administration's entire approach to Iraq. Mr. Kerry has been saying essentially that the American-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein was a misguided, reckless, go-it-alone adventure, and that Mr. Bush has no real plan for getting the United States out of Iraq.
To make things even more uncomfortable for the White House, Mr. Armitage had to listen to sharp criticism of the administration today as he appeared before the appropriations panel to request that $3.5 billion originally designated for reconstruction in Iraq be diverted for security purposes — an acknowledgment that violence had persisted longer than many people had expected.
Mr. Armitage conceded as much today. "We found that the security situation or the insurgents more virulent than we had expected," he testified, "and we need to more rapidly stand up security in order then to have enough stability to have reconstruction projects really get traction."
At another point, he said: "I think we have to acknowledge that there were several things that we didn't foresee. One was a full understanding of the tribal nature, the real importance of tribes and how to bring tribal elders into it." He added, "I don't think that I got that right, personally."
Echoing the president's admission last month that his administration had made a "miscalculation" on what the United States would face in postwar Iraq, Mr. Armitage, a Navy combat veteran of the Vietnam War, cited a military axiom: "No plan survives first contact with the enemy, and our plan didn't either."
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