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Rumsfeld praises U.S. troops
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hailed his troops in Baghdad Wednesday, three weeks after they rolled into the Iraqi capital in their drive to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Rumsfeld addressed about 1,000 troops at Baghdad's airport during a nine-hour visit to the country. Saying there was "more to be done" before the United States' job in Iraq was complete, he congratulated his forces for "what you've done and how you've done it." "What you have accomplished is truly remarkable," said Rumsfeld, the most senior U.S. official to visit Iraq since the war began March 20. "You've rescued a nation, you've liberated a people, you've deposed a cruel dictator and you've ended his threat to free nations. You've braved death squads and dust storms racing across hundreds of miles to reach Baghdad in less than a month." Rumsfeld also recorded a message for broadcast to the Iraqi people, asking them to help the coalition round up senior officials from Saddam's regime and "foreign fighters" seeking to "hijack" Iraq. He said it was crucial to find "the remnants of the regime and (ensure) the Baath party's influence is removed." "The coalition has taken into custody a number of senior leaders from Saddam Hussein's regime," he said. "We need your help to capture the rest of them. We also need to get rid of foreign fighters, those from neighboring countries who are seeking to hijack your country for their own purposes." Rumsfeld also told Iraqis the coalition "is committed to helping you as you take control of your country and make the transition from tyranny to freedom and self-government." "We will stay as long as necessary to help you do that, and not a day longer.... Let me be clear: Iraq belongs to you," Rumsfeld said in the address. In earlier remarks in the southern city of Basra, Rumsfeld hailed the removal of Saddam's "brutal, vicious regime." "When one looks back on this effort, I think and pray that what will be significant is that a large number of human beings, intelligent and energetic, have been liberated," Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld met U.S. and British military commanders as well as retired U.S. general Jay Garner, who is in charge of administering post-war Iraq, before returning to Kuwait. Some of the media in the region were critical of Rumsfeld's comments and approach. Columnist Rashaad Abu Shawer wrote in the Jordanian Arabic daily, Adoustor, Wednesday: "I think only the Americans believe the lie that is called 'freeing Iraq.' "I think only the Americans believe the big lie that makes their big dreams come true towards establishing the U.S. emperor, especially when you know that these people are insisting to enter history by force." Another columnist, Saad Maheu, wrote in the UAE Arabic daily Al Khaleej: "It seems that Rumsfeld is talking as if he is an Iraqi official that has got a legitimate right to dominate over Iraq and its domestic affairs." But Ahmad Jar Allah, editor of the Al Siyasa newspaper in Kuwait, wrote that if the price of war is to change the "killers" like Saddam, then it would be greatly welcomed. Rumsfeld flew in to Basra amid tight security from neighboring Kuwait on a Special Forces aircraft with elite, black-clad special operations soldiers acting as bodyguards. The defense secretary is on week-long tour of the Gulf to thank regional leaders for their support in the Iraq war and to discuss reductions in the U.S. troop presence in the region. On Monday, the United States announced it was virtually closing down its military operations in Saudi Arabia, ending a presence dating back to the 1991 Gulf War. (Full Story) Rumsfeld recalled that he had last been in Iraq 20 years ago. As an envoy of President Ronald Reagan, he held talks with Saddam and other officials in Baghdad as Washington sought to contain neighboring Iran, which Saddam had invaded in 1980.
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