U.S. Sets Plans to Aid Iraq in Civil War............oh my
Security Forces Would Bear Brunt
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 10, 2006; Page A01
The U.S. military will rely primarily on Iraq's security forces to put down a civil war in that country if one breaks out, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told lawmakers yesterday.
Sectarian violence in Iraq has reached a level unprecedented since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and is now eclipsing the insurgency as the chief security threat there, said Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, who appeared with Rumsfeld.
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"The plan is to prevent a civil war, and to the extent one were to occur, to have the . . . Iraqi security forces deal with it," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, second from right, told the Senate Appropriations Committee. With him, from left, are Army Gen. John Abizaid, Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)
Transcript
U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on the Supplemental Budget Request for Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that despite a surge in sectarian violence in Iraq, the process of creating a stable government is proceeding satisfactorily.
"The plan is to prevent a civil war, and to the extent one were to occur, to have the . . . Iraqi security forces deal with it to the extent they're able to," Rumsfeld told the Senate Appropriations Committee when pressed to explain how the United States intended to respond should Iraq descend wholesale into internecine strife.
If civil war becomes reality, "it's very clear that the Iraqi forces will handle it, but they'll handle it with our help," Abizaid said later when asked to elaborate on Rumsfeld's remark.