Rice: Iraq terrorism will end

2005-06-22 21:41

Brussels - United States secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday the defeat of "evil" terrorists in Iraq would spell the "death knell of terrorism as we know it".

Speaking at an international conference on Iraq, she said the task of rebuilding the violence-wracked country "is, of course, a process that is challenged by evil people who would try and destroy those hopes and dreams".

She said: "Terrorism can be defeated in Iraq, it will be defeated in Iraq, and when it is defeated in Iraq at the heart of the Middle East it will be a death knell for terrorism as we know it."

The Iraq conference, attended by more than 80 foreign ministers and leaders of bodies including United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, vowed to bolster support for the interim Iraqi government as it battled to write a constitution ahead of new elections.

Rice said: "We do this as an international community because great people are emerging from tyranny into freedom, because our own security is dependent on the defeat of terrorism in this great region."

- AFP