Pentagon links withdrawal from Iraq to political, security conditions
Iraq-USA, Politics, 8/11/2005

The US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld openly accused Iran of permitting the transfer of weapons from its lands to Iraq.

The US intelligence considers that the source of bombs found in Iraq two weeks ago in north of Iraq is from the Iranian revolutionary guards.

Rumsfeld said he does not know if the matter is related to an Iranian official involvement in smuggling these weapons, and admitted that borders are very vast, implying they are hard to control. However, he said that permitting Iranians with such weapons to cross the border is not in the interest of Iran.

The US defense secretary warned that the security situation in Iraq might be worsen. He compared the gunmen to the Nazi intelligence officers and the Japanese suicide pilots by the end of the second world war. He stressed that decreasing the number of American soldiers will be linked to conditions on the ground including the level of the attacks.

For his part, the American joint army chief of staff Gen. Richard Meyers said in a joint press conference with Rumsfeld that it can not be determined when the Iraqi forces will be able to assume security missions. He said that the American presence might continue for several years in Iraq.

Meyers said that the Iraqi security forces were assigned the responsibility of security in seven or eight positions in the country, including parts in Baghdad. He showed great doubts in the possibility of achieving the objective of the USA to start withdrawal of its forces by the beginning of 2006 to gradually replace the Iraqi forces.

Both Meyers and Rumsfeld stressed that a withdrawal for the American forces will be linked to progress at the political level towards the constitution and elections, the level of the attacks, and the degree to which Iran and Syria interfere, as he alleged.

Previous Stories:
  Pentagon to increase forces in Iraq   (8/10/2005)
  U.S. envoy outlines Iraq's compact with America   (8/9/2005)
  New al-Qaida threats will not deter United States, Bush says   (8/5/2005)
  Seven American marines killed in Iraq   (8/3/2005)
  American soldier killed in Iraq   (7/28/2005)
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