Rumsfeld: London Attacks Not Retaliation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/04/AR2005080401217.html
(Gold9472: You know Don... for once, I think I have to agree with you.)
By RYAN PEARSON
Thursday, August 4, 2005; 7:34 PM
LOS ANGELES -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday rejected as "nonsense" the notion that recent terrorist attacks in London were retaliation for the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
"Some people seem confused about the motivations and intentions of terrorists and about our coalition's defense of the still young democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq," Rumsfeld said in a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.
"They seem to cling to the discredited theory that the recent attacks in London and elsewhere, for example, are really in retaliation for the war in Iraq or for the so-called occupation of Afghanistan," he added. "That is nonsense."
In a videotape broadcast earlier Thursday, the second-in-command for the al-Qaida terrorist network, Ayman al-Zawahri, threatened more destruction in London, saying that British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be to blame.
Al-Zawahri also threatened the United States with tens of thousands of military dead if it does not withdraw its troops from Iraq immediately.
In his speech, Rumsfeld reiterated his oft-stated assertion that Syria is helping the insurgency in Iraq. He said it is acting as a haven for Baathist former members of the Saddam Hussein regime who fled Baghdad after the U.S. invasion, and allowing insurgents to cross its border with Iraq. He said the Syrians are making a mistake.
"What they're doing is harmful ultimately to themselves," he said. "They're going to have to live in that neighborhood, and Iraq doesn't like what Syria is doing. And Iraq is going to be in that neighborhood for a very long time and it's a bigger country and it will be a more powerful country."
Rumsfeld, meanwhile, paid tribute to the 21 Marines killed this week in Iraq, including the 14 killed Wednesday by a single roadside bomb near the city of Haditha in western Iraq.
"Patriots, they were determined to stop the terrorists from reclaiming Iraq and from launching more attacks on our people," he said. "Our nation needed them, called on them in battle, and mourns them now in death."
Rumsfeld spoke broadly about President Bush's rationale for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan _ "the only way to defeat terrorism is to go after them where they are" _ but said little about the administration's plan for turning over the security mission in Iraq to the Iraqis. He did suggest that the goal is within reach.
"Once Iraq is safely in the hands of the Iraqi people, and a government that they elected under a new constitution ... , our troops will be able to ... come home with the honor they will have earned," he said, without elaborating.
In response to a question from his audience about the U.S. military strategy in Iraq, Rumsfeld said that a key to getting U.S. forces out of Iraq is getting enough Iraqi government forces trained to take over.
"We're passing off pieces of real estate to the Iraqis as fast as they are capable of taking it over," he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/04/AR2005080401217.html
(Gold9472: You know Don... for once, I think I have to agree with you.)
By RYAN PEARSON
Thursday, August 4, 2005; 7:34 PM
LOS ANGELES -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday rejected as "nonsense" the notion that recent terrorist attacks in London were retaliation for the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
"Some people seem confused about the motivations and intentions of terrorists and about our coalition's defense of the still young democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq," Rumsfeld said in a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.
"They seem to cling to the discredited theory that the recent attacks in London and elsewhere, for example, are really in retaliation for the war in Iraq or for the so-called occupation of Afghanistan," he added. "That is nonsense."
In a videotape broadcast earlier Thursday, the second-in-command for the al-Qaida terrorist network, Ayman al-Zawahri, threatened more destruction in London, saying that British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be to blame.
Al-Zawahri also threatened the United States with tens of thousands of military dead if it does not withdraw its troops from Iraq immediately.
In his speech, Rumsfeld reiterated his oft-stated assertion that Syria is helping the insurgency in Iraq. He said it is acting as a haven for Baathist former members of the Saddam Hussein regime who fled Baghdad after the U.S. invasion, and allowing insurgents to cross its border with Iraq. He said the Syrians are making a mistake.
"What they're doing is harmful ultimately to themselves," he said. "They're going to have to live in that neighborhood, and Iraq doesn't like what Syria is doing. And Iraq is going to be in that neighborhood for a very long time and it's a bigger country and it will be a more powerful country."
Rumsfeld, meanwhile, paid tribute to the 21 Marines killed this week in Iraq, including the 14 killed Wednesday by a single roadside bomb near the city of Haditha in western Iraq.
"Patriots, they were determined to stop the terrorists from reclaiming Iraq and from launching more attacks on our people," he said. "Our nation needed them, called on them in battle, and mourns them now in death."
Rumsfeld spoke broadly about President Bush's rationale for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan _ "the only way to defeat terrorism is to go after them where they are" _ but said little about the administration's plan for turning over the security mission in Iraq to the Iraqis. He did suggest that the goal is within reach.
"Once Iraq is safely in the hands of the Iraqi people, and a government that they elected under a new constitution ... , our troops will be able to ... come home with the honor they will have earned," he said, without elaborating.
In response to a question from his audience about the U.S. military strategy in Iraq, Rumsfeld said that a key to getting U.S. forces out of Iraq is getting enough Iraqi government forces trained to take over.
"We're passing off pieces of real estate to the Iraqis as fast as they are capable of taking it over," he said.
