Rumsfeld rejects criticism of U.S. troop levels in Iraq
Posted: Saturday, April 15, 2006
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld rejected criticism that he had sent too few U.S. troops to Iraq, telling an Arab television network in an interview that the United States had sought a "balance."
In the interview with the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya that aired Friday, Rumsfeld denied that insufficient troop levels had led to scandals such as Abu Ghraib, the Baghdad prison where U.S. guards sexually abused Iraqi prisoners.
He said three generals who oversaw the campaign's planning -- Tom Franks, John Abizaid and George Casey -- had determined the overall number of troops, and that he and President Bush agreed with them.
"There is a balance that is needed in this. You can have not enough troops, in which case things can be disorderly, or you can have too many troops and be too intrusive, too much of an occupying force," Rumsfeld said.
Asked about the retired generals calling for him to lose his job, Rumsfeld said there were between 3,000 and 6,000 generals on duty and retired.
"If out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed, we changed the secretary of defense of the United States, it would be like a merry-go-round," he said.
Earlier Friday, President Bush expressed full confidence in Rumsfeld.
The defense secretary also signaled out Turkey's refusal to be used for the U.S. invasion of Iraq as the one thing he wished had gone differently in the war. Turkey's parliament voted against allowing U.S. troops to use the country as a launchpad for the war.
Rumsfeld said a strike from Turkey would have allowed U.S. troops to reach the Sunni triangle of Iraq more quickly.
"It would have had an affect on the Sunni area, the Saddam Hussein stronghold, earlier in the conflict and probably would have had a beneficial affect in reducing the size of the insurgency," Rumsfeld said.
In the interview with the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya that aired Friday, Rumsfeld denied that insufficient troop levels had led to scandals such as Abu Ghraib, the Baghdad prison where U.S. guards sexually abused Iraqi prisoners.
He said three generals who oversaw the campaign's planning -- Tom Franks, John Abizaid and George Casey -- had determined the overall number of troops, and that he and President Bush agreed with them.
"There is a balance that is needed in this. You can have not enough troops, in which case things can be disorderly, or you can have too many troops and be too intrusive, too much of an occupying force," Rumsfeld said.
Asked about the retired generals calling for him to lose his job, Rumsfeld said there were between 3,000 and 6,000 generals on duty and retired.
"If out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed, we changed the secretary of defense of the United States, it would be like a merry-go-round," he said.
Earlier Friday, President Bush expressed full confidence in Rumsfeld.
The defense secretary also signaled out Turkey's refusal to be used for the U.S. invasion of Iraq as the one thing he wished had gone differently in the war. Turkey's parliament voted against allowing U.S. troops to use the country as a launchpad for the war.
Rumsfeld said a strike from Turkey would have allowed U.S. troops to reach the Sunni triangle of Iraq more quickly.
"It would have had an affect on the Sunni area, the Saddam Hussein stronghold, earlier in the conflict and probably would have had a beneficial affect in reducing the size of the insurgency," Rumsfeld said.
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