As the US pledged to hand power to Iraqis faster, the Pentagon said yesterday that did not mean pulling out troops before they crushed guerrillas who fight on, seven months after the fall of former president Saddam Hussein.
"There is no decision to pull out early. Indeed quite the contrary," Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said while the US occupying forces launched new "Iron Hammer" strikes on suspected resistance positions around Baghdad.
"We will stay there as long as necessary," he told troops in the Pacific.
PHOTO: REUTERS
He denied Washington and its allies were in trouble after a particularly bloody few weeks in Iraq and insisted they were winning, despite an increasing number of guerrilla attacks.
Arriving in Japan, which is suffering cold feet about sending troops to Iraq after a bomb killed 18 Italians on Wednesday, Rumsfeld met Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He is also due in South Korea, which is reviewing its offer of troops.
Rumsfeld was expected to press Washington's case to its allies for help in stabilizing Iraq to relieve the military and financial burden on the US as President George W. Bush seeks re-election a year from now.
Opinion polls show declining support among American voters for the occupation and growing disillusionment about the way the March invasion has turned out. Bush said on Thursday he wanted to "encourage the Iraqis to assume more responsibility."
US officials have not spelled out how this will be done, saying Iraq administrator Paul Bremer would discuss details with the Iraqi Governing Council on his return to Baghdad after this week's urgent consultations in Washington.
Postwar attacks that have killed 156 US soldiers, along with suicide bombings like Wednesday's assault on an Italian military base, have prompted what US General John Abizaid calls a "sense of urgency" about military efforts in Iraq.
The US military disclosed that Abizaid, leading those efforts, was planning to move back to the Gulf state of Qatar from Central Command headquarters in Florida.
In a fresh guerrilla attack, a roadside blast wounded two American soldiers in southern Baghdad yesterday morning.
Heavy gunfire and explosions had echoed across Baghdad during the night as US forces pursued Operation Iron Hammer against suspected guerrilla targets for a second day.
US forces destroyed a former Republican Guard building they said resistance fighters used to launch attacks and struck more suspected mortar and rocket-launch sites.
A missile fired from a AC-130 Spectre gunship flattened part of the building, leaving a tangle of metal and debris.
"Our unit has been taking fire from this building for several days so that's why we attacked," a US officer on the scene said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS