Rumsfeld visits US soldiers in Iraq

Soldiers from Task Force Danger gather around to meet US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld at Forward Operating Base Danger, in Tikrit, northern Iraq yesterday. Rumsfeld acknowledged "setbacks" in Iraq during a visit with US marines today at their main base outside Fallujah, after visiting troops in Tikrit and Mosul. PHOTO: AFP

"There's no doubt in my mind, this is achievable," he told troops in Mosul just three days after the devastating attack on a US military dining hall here.

"When it looks bleak, when one worries about how it's going to come out, when one reads and hears the naysayers and the doubters who say it can't be done, and that we're in a quagmire here," one should recall that there have been such doubters "throughout every conflict in the history of the world," he told about 200 soldiers of the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division at their commander's headquarters.

Traveling in secrecy amid tight security, Rumsfeld landed in pre-dawn darkness and immediately headed for a combat surgical hospital where many of the bombing victims were treated after Tuesday's lunchtime attack on a mess tent. The most seriously wounded already have been transferred to a US military hospital in Germany.

At a later stop in Tikrit, the hometown of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Rumsfeld met with the commander of the 1st Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. John Batiste.

Batiste said that 90 percent of the threat in his area, which covers four provinces in northcentral and northeastern Iraq is from former Baathist regime elements.

He told Rumsfeld the groundwork is being laid for successful elections in this part of Iraq, which is predominantly Sunni.

Standing under a bright sun on a brisk morning, Rumsfeld addressed a group of about 250 soldiers gathered outside Batiste's headquarters, thanking them for their service and wishing them holiday greetings.

His third stop was in Fallujah, where Marine infantrymen fought with insurgents on Thursday as warplanes and tanks bombarded guerrilla positions in the heaviest fighting there in weeks.

However, all seemed quiet as he met with Marines at their main base outside the city on Friday.

"What's taking place here is at a stage where a great many people doubt whether or not it can be accomplished," he said, reprising the theme he struck in Mosul.

But he reminded about 200 Marines eating lunch in a mess hall adorned with several small plastic trees and homemade Christmas decorations that repressive regimes in Germany and the former Soviet Union had been removed and said he was confident freedom would prevail in Iraq.

"All I can say is, people basically want to be free," he said to cheers and applause in the refurbished brick and plaster Iraqi building.