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★阿修羅♪
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米国防長官のラムズフェルドは、サドル派の武器引き渡しの評価に慎重で、称賛を戒め、武器の量、種類などの点検をせよと、現地軍司令官に、警告している。
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/12/international/europe/12CND-RUMMY.html?oref=login
October 12, 2004
Rumsfeld Cautious in Appraisal of Rebel Arms Handover
By ERIC SCHMITT
BUCHAREST, Romania, Oct. 12 -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld expressed cautious optimism today that the handing over of hundreds of weapons by militiamen loyal to the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr signaled an encouraging start to a deal to end the fighting in the strife-torn Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad.
But in his first public comments on the latest developments in Baghdad, Mr. Rumsfeld warned that American commanders needed to gauge the arms returns carefully over the next several days before making any firm judgments.
"What one has to do is watch over a period of time, and see what volume of weapons and what types of weapons and the conditions of the weapons actually end up being turned in," Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters here after a luncheon with Romanian Army soldiers who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the American-led operations.
The militiamen's surrender of their heavy weapons is the principal element of an agreement struck over the weekend with the interim Iraqi government and American military forces. In exchange, American commanders agreed to stop military attacks against the group, known as the Mahdi Army, and to begin reconstruction projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the rundown eastern Baghdad slum.
Asked if he expected the Mahdi Army to pose less of a military threat if it followed through on its promise to disarm and disband, Mr. Rumsfeld was noncommittal, reflecting the suspicions of commanders he conferred with earlier this week in Baghdad.
"One has to be hopeful," he said. "I just watch and wait and encourage."
A senior defense official traveling with Mr. Rumsfeld voiced similar optimism. "We're not holding our breath, but it's looking better and better," the official said.
The Bush administration has said that quelling insurgencies in Sadr City, a Shiite-dominated area of two million people, as well as important cities in the Sunni heartland north and west of Baghdad, like Samarra and Falluja, is crucial to ensuring that fair and free elections can be held throughout the country in January.
Mr. Rumsfeld and military commanders have predicted that the growing violence of the past few months will intensify in advance of the elections, but he continued today to express optimism that the political process will advance, however fitfully.
"They're going to end up with an Iraqi solution," Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters. "I would guess what would happen in Iraq is they would not end up with an American-style democracy. They'd very likely end up with a system that is distinctively unique to Iraq and that suits their circumstances."
Mr. Rumsfeld stopped overnight here in the Romanian capital to thank President Ion Iliescu and Defense Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu for their country's contributions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Romania has about 600 troops in Afghanistan and 700 in Iraq.
The secretary will join other NATO defense ministers for a two-day meeting at a mountain resort in the Carpathian Mountains north of here in Transylvania, where the United States is expected to push alliance military planners to draft proposals for combining the NATO and American-led missions in Afghanistan. The proposals would be readied in time for possible NATO action at the alliance's meeting in Nice, France, in February 2005.
Another central issue at this week's meeting will be the alliance's new training mission in Iraq. NATO has authorized planning for a program to send 300 trainers to Iraq, but alliance military commanders say most of them will probably not arrive to open a new training academy before the end of the year. Mr. Rumsfeld played down the delay, saying that "whatever they do will be helpful" for the January elections, and even more so in elections scheduled for later in 2005.
He also issued a strong plea for all countries to help the interim Iraqi government equip its new army and security forces, a problem that has plagued the Iraqi security forces' ability to conduct missions.
"We need more equipment, we need it from NATO nations, we need it from non-NATO nations, we need it gifted," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
題名には必ず「阿修羅さんへ」と記述してください。