Rumsfeld wants Iraq tied up
2003-12-06 21:35
Baghdad - US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Saturday urged the president of Iraq's governing council to work quickly to resolve outstanding issues on the transfer of sovereignty during a surprise one-day trip to the war-torn country.
In a meeting with Abdel Aziz Hakim, the head of the Iraqi governing council, Rumsfeld warned that there was a lot to do and not much time to do it, a US official told reporters travelling with the secretary.
Hakim told Rumsfeld that everyone supported an agreement reached on November 15 on the transfer of sovereignty, but there were still details to be worked out, the official said.
"The secretary said he was counting on his leadership to work through these details so they can move forward with the governing agreement," the official said.
"The secretary also pointed out to Hakim and Hakim agreed that there was a tremendous amount of work to do between now and July. Things like drafting a basic law, arranging for a security agreement between a US government coalition and the new Iraqi government," the official said.
The official said that Hakim did not spell out what details still had to be worked out, but it was understood that he was referring to objections raised by Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani concerning the role of Islam and the need for direct elections.
The power transfer plan calls for putting a caretaker government in place by June next year after the drafting of a basic law by end-February 2004, and the selection of a transitional assembly by end-May 2004 through regional caucuses.
"Hakim told the secretary that the principles in the November 15 political agreement on the way ahead and on the political process - he said we all cherish them," the official said.
The meeting with Hakim came at the end of Rumsfeld's unannounced one-day visit to Iraq to review the political and military progress that the coalition is making there.
Earlier in the day, Rumsfeld quizzed US commanders on offensives to crush diehard Baathists and declared that the United States was right to rapidly bring more Iraqi security forces into the fight.
Rumsfeld rode in a mud-spattered convoy of Humvees through the northern city of Kirkuk and swooped over Baghdad in a Black Hawk helicopter during a frenetic one day visit - his third since the fall of Saddam Hussein - to inspect the progress of a US-led occupation.
"What I've seen first hand is the approach that we've taken, the attempt to develop the Iraqi security forces is the right approach," Rumsfeld told reporters at an army base on the southern edge of Baghdad.
Military commanders in Iraq told Rumsfeld that attacks on coalition forces had dropped in the past two weeks after recent offensives targeting clandestine cells responsible for roadside bombings, ambushes and spectacular attacks.
"I think it's too early to say it's a trend. It's a good sign they've dropped off," Rumsfeld told reporters.