'US not losing in Iraq'
2005-06-23 23:02
Washington - Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld assured congress on Thursday that United States troops were defeating the stubborn insurgency in Iraq, and rejected calls that the Pentagon scale back the military presence there.
"Any who say that we've lost this war, or that we're losing this war, are wrong. We are not," said Rumsfeld, who appeared with his top military commanders at a hearing of the senate armed services committee.
Rumsfeld noted that some in congress had suggested that deadlines be set for a US withdrawal, but he rejected that idea as counterproductive to US military objectives.
He said it would only embolden the United States' enemies.
"It would throw a lifeline to terrorists, who in recent months have suffered significant losses and casualties, been denied havens and suffered weakened popular support," he said.
'Disconnected from reality'
His categorical rejection of the assessment that the US was losing in Iraq came just days after a top senate Republican, Chuck Hagel, slammed the Bush administration's Iraqi policy as "completely disconnected from reality".
"The reality is that we're losing in Iraq," Hagel added in the interview in US News and World Report.
This was one of the most-stinging denunciations of US Iraqi policy issued to date from a member of President George W Bush's own party.
Democratic senator Carl Levin, a perennial critic of the war, although one who rejects setting a timetable for a troop pullout, said that a radical change in US Iraqi policy was needed.
"Staying the course is not only hollow-sounding rhetoric, it is an unacceptable policy.
"We need to change the current dynamic in Iraq.
Deserve an objective assessment
"The status quo is neither static nor acceptable," he said.
"Our men and women in uniform are serving with great honour.
"They deserve an objective assessment of the situation in Iraq. They deserve a clear layout of the next steps there.
"They're not getting either from the administration," he said.
Recent polls showed declining US support for the war, with about 59% of Americans expressing disapproval of how Bush was handling the situation in Iraq, and 51% thought the United States should never have invaded the country.
- AFP