US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged Thursday that more US troops may have to be sent to Iraq to provide security for January elections that are threatened by a wave of insurgent violence.
Rumsfeld said he believed elections could still be held in January but he sketched out a scenario in which they might not be held in parts of the country where the violence is too great.
"Let's say you tried to have an election and you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country, but some places you couldn't, because the violence was too great," he said.
"Well, so be it," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "You have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet."
General John Abizaid, the head of the US Central Command, told reporters Wednesday after a closed door briefing to members of Congress that more troops would be needed to secure the country ahead of the elections.
The US is counting on Iraqi security forces to fill the gap, but both Abizaid and Rumsfeld admitted that the 140,000-member US force in Iraq may have to be beefed up at least temporarily.
"In the event General Abizaid decides he needs more forces to assist in the elections, like he has for example in Afghanistan, he'll ask and he'll get it," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld, who testified only hours after Iraq Prime Minister Ayad Allawi addressed the Congress, faced sharp questioning mainly from Democrats about the growing insurgency.
"What's the plan?" asked Senator Edward Kennedy. "What's Plan B? How are we going to get people out to vote with the dramatic increase in violence in these places?"
Kennedy cited polling data contained in a July CIA estimate that found that 90 percent of Iraqis view US forces as occupiers, and about half viewed insurgent attacks as attempts to liberate the country.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
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