Coalition Forces Must Continue To Support Iraq, U.S. General Says

Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff calls for continued focus on security

Coalition forces must continue to play a vital role in providing security in Iraq, says Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"I think we need to keep our eye on the objective, and the objective is to have an Iraq that is functioning with its own freely elected government, a unifying government, one that's providing services to the people. ... And, to do that,

there needs to be a secure environment and that's how we help," Pace told radio talk show host Bill LeMaye in an April12 interview.

"We should not leave that country until the Iraqi government is able to rely on the security provided by its own armed forces so that they have a chance to put together a democracy," he said.

Pace said that the terrorists and insurgents know that they cannot defeat coalition forces in battle, so they continue attacks on civilians and the infrastructure in the hope that America and its allies will tire of the war and abandon Iraq.

"I think our enemy clearly understands that global opinion, and especially opinions inside the United States, make a huge difference in this war, the general said, adding that too often the news media focuses on, "things that capture your eye - which are the bombs going off," while positive activity such as "digging wells and building schools and paving roads, don't quite rise to that level."

Coalition forces must continue to support Iraq, Pace said, "because if we were for some reason to determine that we would walk away from Iraq, the terrorists would simply turn to the next country and/or bring the fight to us here at home."

Pace observed that the coalition-trained Iraqi military and police forces are 250,000-strong and growing increasingly more effective and independent in conducting successful counterinsurgency operations. Since November 2005, Pace said, Iraqi security forces have conducted 83 percent of all military operations in Iraq, either alone or with support from coalition forces.

"Iraqi armed forces are out in the lead," Pace said, "they are being extremely loyal to their government and they're taking the fight to the enemy."

People outside Iraq, "who have enjoyed freedom for decades are having a hard time understanding why it might take folks who have never done this before a little while to figure it out," Pace said, but "we should have some patience with them and support them so that they can put together a leadership team that will take them into the future and not pull the rug out from them as they're trying to put this together."

Source: U.S. Department of State

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