US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew into Baghdad yesterday for a closer look at developments in Iraq as Washington tried to get more nations to contribute troops and cash for peacekeeping in Iraq.
Rumsfeld, speaking to reporters on his plane, said more American forces were not needed, but called for more Iraqi and international involvement in security.
"I haven't been back into Iraq or Afghanistan I guess since last ... April or May and it seemed to me that it was important to have an opportunity to get a first hand sense of how things are going," Rumsfeld said.
The Pentagon had not announced his trip to Iraq in advance for security reasons.
In a reminder of the daily dangers in Iraq, US troops fought Iraqi guerrillas who fired mortars near their base, then raided homes to detain suspected bomb-makers in a night of drama around former president Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Iraqis then fired rocket-propelled grenades at a patrol.
There were no American casualties, but US commanders said at least one Iraqi may have died in the fighting witnessed by reporters accompanying the troops.
In another overnight incident near Baquba, 50km northeast of Baghdad, US troops ambushed and killed three Iraqi guerrillas laying explosive devices on a roadside, the US military said.
In New York, the US faced a sceptical UN Security Council on a resolution crafted to induce more nations to send troops and money to support the US-led occupation.
Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper said Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had urged his government to send an extra 5,000 soldiers or risk "strategic failure."
While the US has made some concessions, diplomats said it faced intense negotiations as France and other Security Council members were wary of rubber-stamping the US occupation.
The resolution wants UN endorsement of the US-selected Iraqi Governing Council as an interim government.
In Dresden, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he and French President Jacques Chirac had agreed the UN must play a leading role in the political process in post-war Iraq.
Unremitting assaults on US-led troops and a spate of recent bomb attacks are likely to be on Rumsfeld's agenda when he meets senior military leaders in the Gulf region.
Some 20,000 to 22,000 non-US soldiers are deployed in Iraq and Rumsfeld said he would like that number to go up by another division -- about 15,000 soldiers. He also said efforts should be made to bolster the size of the Iraqi security forces.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the US commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said the involvement of more nations would send a message to the Iraqi people that the international community was committed to stabilizing their country.
He told a news conference in Baghdad he had enough troops to perform the task force's current mission but more soldiers would help to deal with future challenges.
He cited sealing borders more effectively, dealing with an internal conflict or a greater threat from foreign Muslim militants as challenges that would require more soldiers.
Sixty-seven US and 11 British soldiers have been killed by hostile fire in Iraq since US President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1.
The proposed UN resolution marked a policy reversal for the Bush administration, which had resisted U.N. involvement after the Council's refusal to approve the war that toppled Saddam. France, Russia, China and Germany were among nations on the Security Council which opposed the war.
Britain, which has about 10,000 troops, appeared closer to sending more forces. Straw said that sending an extra 5,000 soldiers would not only help improve security but also demonstrate Britain's resolve to other coalition members and sceptical Iraqis.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS