Nations Must Continue Security in Iraq, Diplomacy in Iran

Rumsfeld discusses progress in Iran, Iraq, and the War on Terror

The United States must continue working with its friends and allies to support the war in Iraq, pursue a diplomatic resolution to Iran's defiance of the international community with its nuclear program and fight the global War on Terror, said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

As the various factions within Iraq continue negotiations to form a government of national unity, Rumsfeld said the international community must be patient with this young democracy and continue its support of the increasingly capable coalition-trained Iraqi security forces against terrorists and insurgent groups seeking to foment sectarian violence. (See related article.)

"The real battle," Rumsfeld told Mark Davis of WBAP radio in Dallas in an April 11 interview, "is for the Iraqi people to fashion a government and get it in place and win the confidence of the Iraqi people so that they can proceed forward. That ultimately will have a favorable effect in repressing the insurgency."

When asked later in the day by Tony Snow of FOX News Radio about the consequences of a withdrawal of coalition forces now, Rumsfeld warned that a terrorist victory in Iraq would mean further instability in the Middle East. Iraq's natural wealth could make it a well-financed haven for terrorists from which they could destabilize their neighbors and plan attacks on America and its allies.

"I think the consequences would be dire," Rumsfeld said, adding, "The dangers to the free world and to free people would be just enormous."

IRAN

With the announcement from Iran that it has enriched uranium in violation of its pledges to the international community, Rumsfeld said that the United States continues to support ongoing diplomatic efforts to convince Iran to stop its nuclear activities and cooperate fully with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. (See related article.)

"The president has decided that he wants to work with the European countries and other nations in the world and see if it isn't possible to have the United Nations and other international organizations ... encourage a behavior pattern on Iran that would be more acceptable to the world," Rumsfeld told Snow.

The defense secretary said that as a known sponsor and financier of terrorist groups, Iran's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction should be a matter of grave concern, not only to the international community, but also to people within Iran.

"The Iranian people are proud people," Rumsfeld said, "I can't imagine that the young people and the women in that country admire the kinds of comments that are being made by their leaders in their government. Furthermore, I think they very likely do not want to be isolated from the world."

THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR

Rumsfeld said that the war on terrorism illustrates many of the complex security challenges facing America and its allies, which will continue for a long time.

Unlike the enemies of World War II, Rumsfeld told Davis, terrorists do not build conventional armies to defend a nation, instead, they need only defend a network.

"What you have," he said, "is something more akin to the Cold War which went on for 50 years. A situation where there is an enemy that is determined to intimidate and terrorize free people and alter the way they live their lives - and, is able to do it without having to defend a country, without [supporting] an army, navy or an air force, to do it through irregular and asymmetrical warfare, [and] to have very good success at manipulating the news media around the world. Their hope is to destabilize the moderate Muslim regimes in the Middle East and to re-establish a caliphate across the major belt of the world."

An additional complication in fighting terrorists, Rumsfeld told FOX News Radio, is that they often operate from within countries with which the United States is not at war. On the other hand, he said, as more countries have experienced terrorist attacks, they are more active and vigilant in the global anti-terrorism effort.

Rumsfeld said he was concerned about possible future use of cyber-terrorism and biological weapons as terrorists look for new opportunities and vulnerabilities and "arrange themselves to take advantage of them."

Source: U.S. Department of State

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