Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, just back from Iraq, said Wednesday that it is not the job of the United States to reconstruct that nation, and he blamed former leader Saddam Hussein, rather than the American-led invasion, for the deteriorated conditions there.
Rumsfeld said the Bush administration’s exit strategy is to turn over political control and security operations to the Iraqis as fast as possible. He urged that much of the recovery and security burden be shifted not only to other countries but also to such international organizations such as the World Bank.
“I don’t believe it’s our job to reconstruct that country after 30 years of centralized, Stalinist-like economic controls in that country,” Rumsfeld said in an address at the National Press Club. “The Iraqi people are going to have to reconstruct that country.”
He called on Iraqis to establish stability and create institutions that will attract foreign capital. “They have to create an environment that’s hospitable to investment and to enterprise,” the secretary said.
In a discussion with reporters at the White House, President Bush also urged other nations to contribute to Iraq’s reconstruction, noting that Secretary of State Colin Powell will shortly make that case in person to foreign leaders.
Even with those outside donations, the U.S. still would need the $87 billion the president has requested from Congress for the rehabilitation of Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush said.
Rumsfeld faces protesters
“It’s important to spend that money,” he said. “It’s in our national interest that we spend it. A free and peaceful Iraq will save this country money in the long term. It’s important to get it done now.”
But reflecting at least some domestic opposition to the American presence in Iraq, Rumsfeld’s remarks were interrupted by a small group of protesters. They gained access to a balcony overlooking the secretary’s podium, hung a red flag saying “bloody hands” over the railing and demanded that Rumsfeld be fired.
“Your foreign policy is based on lies!” shouted one. “The war in Iraq is unjust and illegal, and the occupation is immoral. There are U.S. soldiers dying in Iraq.”
After the demonstrators were led away by security officials, Rumsfeld responded that the war in Iraq had given Iraqis the same freedom of speech the protesters were exercising. Iraq is now home to more than 100 newspapers, Rumsfeld said, while four months ago the country “had prisons where they were executing people.”
Although administration officials originally hoped Iraqi oil revenue would finance a significant portion of Iraq’s reconstruction, Rumsfeld on Wednesday downplayed the role that oil proceeds can play.
“Oil revenue is not the only answer,” he said. “There are a lot of countries in the world that had oil that haven’t managed it very well.”
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday that Iraq oil revenues next year would amount to about $12 billion, not the more than $50 billion some suggested earlier.
Rumsfeld said there are other resources for Iraq to tap, including frozen Iraqi assets in other countries; the remaining funds in the UN “oil for food” program established when Iraq was still under sanctions; outside investors and such international financial organizations as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Rumsfeld even suggested tourism could be a source for funds once Iraq was made secure.
Reflecting on mistakes
Asked what mistakes the administration has made in its campaign in Iraq, Rumsfeld said the U.S. failed to realize how bad conditions were.
“I don’t think people really fully understood how devastating that regime was to the infrastructure of the country, how fragile the electric system is, how poorly the water is being managed and the extent to which the people are being denied [necessities],” he said.
Rumsfeld said the administration’s exit strategy for Iraq is to pass off responsibility for political stability and security to the Iraqi people “as fast as they’re capable of doing it.”
“They already have a Cabinet,” he said. “They already have a governing council. They already have city councils all across that country . . . .”
Also, in just four months, the U.S. has recruited an Iraqi security force of 55,000 “who are currently engaged in border patrols, site protection units, local police, civil defense and the beginnings of a new Iraqi army,” he said.
