Rumsfeld Rejects Reports of Iraq Civil War
Tuesday March 7, 2006 5:46 PM
By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday rejected suggestions Iraq is engulfed in a civil war but predicted there would be additional ``bursts'' of sectarian violence in the weeks ahead.
Rumsfeld also claimed that Iranian Revolutionary Guard elements had infiltrated Iraq to cause trouble.
``They are currently putting people into Iraq to do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq,'' he said. ``And we know it. And it is something that they, I think, will look back on as having been an error in judgment.''
He would not be more specific except to say the infiltrators were members of the Al Quds Division of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
Speaking at a Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld asserted that media reports have exaggerated the violence in Iraq since an attack last month on a revered Shiite mosque that touched off a wave of violent reprisals between sects.
``I do not believe they are in a civil war today,'' Rumsfeld said, with Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at his side. ``There has always been a potential for civil war,'' Rumsfeld added.
The secretary spoke nearly two weeks after the Feb. 22 bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra, which has touched off violent reprisals between sects that have killed hundreds of Iraqis. Hoping to keep Iraqi efforts to form a unity government moving forward, U.S. officials have acknowledged concern about the violence, but repeatedly denied that they fear a full-scale civil war is erupting.
Rumsfeld acknowledged that the attack on the mosque has delayed efforts to form a unified government in Iraq in which Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds would share power.
``Their efforts to fashion a unity government that will represent all elements of their society is clearly being delayed by the situation in Iraq,'' Rumsfeld said. But he also asserted that Iraqi leaders had thus far passed the test of holding the country together and containing insurgents' efforts to ignite a civil war.
``They have to be fully aware that if this does not work, they and all of the people who have supported them lose everything, if this turns into a civil war. They can't want that,'' he said. ``My impression is they will sort through this and fashion a government of some sort'' that governs from the center.
Pace said he believes the people in Iraq ``have looked into the abyss and said that's not where we want to go.''
At the same time, Pace said there are ongoing problems with individuals crossing the border from Iran into Iraq with explosive devices. He said he does not know if it signals an increase in that border traffic, but said coalition forces are working with the Iraqis to beef up border controls.
Said Rumsfeld: ``The steady stream of errors all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq,'' he said.
