By Richard Pyle
The Associated Press, 28 May 2003.
NEW YORK (AP) - The United States intends to maintain a tight grip in Baghdad to ``fill the vacuum of authority'' while helping Iraq to create its own version of democracy, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday.
``We are committed to helping the Iraqi people get on the path to a free society,'' Rumsfeld said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations. ``The Iraqi people have this historic opportunity to build a free society, and the world as well as the United States has a stake in their success.''
To that end, he said, the United Nations, other countries, international institutions and non-government organizations were welcome to participate in the restoration of Iraq following the destruction of Saddam Hussein's regime.
In his remarks, Rumsfeld cited no recovery timetable but listed a set of ``broad principles'' that he said the Bush administration considers ``critical, if Iraq's transition from tyranny is to succeed.''
He said those envision a ``single country'' that does not support terrorism, threaten its neighbors or repress its own diverse population and that provides market-based economic opportunity and maintains an independent judiciary.
``These are not solely American principles nor are they exclusively Western,'' Rumsfeld said. ``We do not have an American template that we plan to impose on them. The Iraqis will have to figure out how to build a free nation in a manner that reflects their unique culture and tradition.''
Some U.S. officials have expressed concern that Shiite extremists in neighboring Iran would try to stir unrest amid Iraq's own Shiite majority, in a campaign to install a Tehran-like theocracy in Baghdad.
In remarks clearly aimed at Iran, Rumsfeld said the allies would not permit some ``new form of tyranny'' to replace Saddam's.
``Iran should be on notice that attempts to remake Iraq in Iran's image will be aggressively put down,'' he said.
In reply to a question, the Pentagon chief said the administration was debating the most effective way to deal with Iran itself - through the hard-liners in charge, through the moderate leaders they tolerate or directly with the Iranian people.
Rumsfeld conceded that the rebuilding of Iraq would not be swift or easy, and he even likened postwar Iraq to ``the chaos'' that existed in the newly minted United States after the American Revolution.
He said that as Saddam's regime disintegrated, it freed 100,000 criminals, most of whom are still at large. ``There are folks out there who do not wish the coalition well,'' he said.
Rumsfeld did not mention, and was not asked about, incidents that have killed eight Americans and wounded nearly two dozen in Iraq in recent days.
The administration's game plan calls for Iraq's own monetary assets - those frozen in foreign banks and those still being seized in Iraq - to finance its recovery. Eventually, Rumsfeld said, planners hope to diversify Iraq's economy beyond its nearly total dependence on oil revenues.
``The transition to democracy will take time, and it will not be a smooth road,'' Rumsfeld said in comments that appeared aimed at administration critics in the packed audience. ``Trial and error and experimentation will be part of the process. Course corrections will be needed. I'm sure they will all be looked at and viewed with alarm, but we will survive that.''
Asked to explain why allied forces have not found the weapons of mass destruction that were President Bush's initial rationale for invading Iraq, Rumsfeld said it was known that Iraq had sizable chemical warfare programs and had used chemical weapons on the Iranians and its own people. He said evidence may yet turn up as the search moves farther afield.
Citation: Richard Pyle. "Rumsfeld Says U.S. to Keep Baghdad Grip," The Associated Press, 28 May 2003.
Original URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2722767,00.html