Friday, August 4, 2006
Can't Let 'Evil' Extremists Win
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Thursday against pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq prematurely, saying it would be seen as a victory by extremists who want to control a region extending beyond the Middle East.
"If we left Iraq prematurely as the terrorists demand, the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the Middle East," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hearing.
"And if we left the Middle East, they'd order us and all those who don't share their militant ideology to leave what they call the occupied Muslim lands from Spain to the Philippines," he said.
"And then we would face not only the evil ideology of these extremists, but an enemy that will have grown accustomed to succeeding in telling free people everywhere what to do."
Testifying about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said the Bush administration wants to bring U.S. troops home
The head of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. John Abizaid, also played down prospects for reducing troop levels in Iraq this year because of violence in Baghdad.
The United States has about 133,000 troops in Iraq.
Abizaid called the sectarian violence the worst he had yet seen in Baghdad, and said it could lead to civil war.
"Sectarian violence probably is as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular," he said. "If not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Thursday against pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq prematurely, saying it would be seen as a victory by extremists who want to control a region extending beyond the Middle East.
"If we left Iraq prematurely as the terrorists demand, the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the Middle East," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hearing.
"And if we left the Middle East, they'd order us and all those who don't share their militant ideology to leave what they call the occupied Muslim lands from Spain to the Philippines," he said.
"And then we would face not only the evil ideology of these extremists, but an enemy that will have grown accustomed to succeeding in telling free people everywhere what to do."
Testifying about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said the Bush administration wants to bring U.S. troops home
The head of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. John Abizaid, also played down prospects for reducing troop levels in Iraq this year because of violence in Baghdad.
The United States has about 133,000 troops in Iraq.
Abizaid called the sectarian violence the worst he had yet seen in Baghdad, and said it could lead to civil war.
"Sectarian violence probably is as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular," he said. "If not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war."
