"The coalition did not act in Iraq because we had discovered dramatic new evidence of Iraq's pursuit" of WMDs, Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON, July 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The United States went to war against Iraq because it considers existing information on its arms programs in a “dramatic new light” after the September 11 hijack attacks, not because of any evidence of banned weapons, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday, July 9.

"The coalition did not act in Iraq because we had discovered dramatic new evidence of Iraq's pursuit" of weapons of mass destruction, Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"We acted because we saw the evidence in a dramatic new light -- through the prism of our experience on 9-11."

Rumsfeld’s statements came one day after the White House acknowledged that U.S. President George W. Bush overstated ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's alleged efforts to obtain uranium for nuclear arms.

Bush, in South Africa on the second leg of an African tour, ducked questions over the White House admission, insisting he was right to oust Saddam Hussein.

But he deflected a question on whether he regretted highlighting the allegation in his State of the Union address in January 2003, Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"There is no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the world peace and there is no doubt in my mind the United States along with our allies and friends did the right thing in removing him from power," Bush said at a joint appearance with South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Rumsfeld testified he had only recently learned the intelligence reports saying Iraq had tried to obtain processed uranium from Africa were bogus.

A former U.S. ambassador who investigated reports about alleged sales of processed uranium by Niger to Iraq has concluded Sunday, July 6, the government twisted intelligence to exaggerate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

This came amid a worldwide international skepticism over launching an offensive on Iraq as no weapons of mass destruction have been found so far so far.

At the hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, New York Senator Hillary Clinton expressed concern about "the quality, the accuracy and the use of intelligence" including the now-discredited claims of an Africa-Iraq link.

"In this new threat environment in which we find ourselves, we are increasingly reliant on intelligence," Clinton said.

"Of the lessons to be learned, that I hope we have learned, the thorough scrubbing and very careful analysis of intelligence has to be at the top of the list."

Asked by Democrat Mark Pryor of Arkansas whether he had ever received any communication saying the intelligence was flawed, Rumsfeld grew testy.

"I see hundreds and hundreds of pieces of paper a day. Is it conceivable that something was in a document? It's conceivable. Do I recall hearing anything, or reading anything like that? The answer is no."

He concurred, however, that the quality of intelligence is a potential U.S. vulnerability.

"I agree completely on the importance of intelligence," Rumsfeld said.

"It's such a big, complicated world and there are so many areas that need to be looked at today -- unlike the Cold War period, when you could focus on the Soviet Union and develop a good deal of conviction about it.

"We're dealing with closed societies; we're dealing with countries that very skillfully use our advanced technologies."   

3^rd Infantry ‘Redeployed’

Meanwhile, Rumsfeld said that some of the longest-serving U.S. troops in Iraq will return home soon and more countries will be providing soldiers to ease the burden on American forces who are increasingly under attack.

Rumsfeld said 142,000 military personnel had returned to their home bases, although most of those serve in the Air Force and Navy, leaving the burden in Iraq to American ground forces, the New York Times reported.

The Army's 3rd Infantry Division is beginning a phased pullout of its 16,000 troops, with the entire unit expected back in the United States by September, he said.

Rumsfeld said the division's 3rd Brigade has already reached Kuwait and will be heading home this month, and that the 2nd Brigade, which had been in the region for 10 months, will be home in August and the 1st Brigade will return in September.

He said each of the final two brigades to leave Iraq will have been in the Gulf region for 10 months by the time they depart.

Expecting to receive a report this week from Central Command with recommendations for troop rotations in Iraq, Rumsfeld said the current ground force figure, 145,000, is down from its peak of 151,000.

But Democrats questioned whether the Bush administration has a clear strategy for rotating troops in and out of Iraq and has done enough to win troop commitments from the NATO military alliance, the Times added.

“I’m now concerned that we have the world’s best trained soldiers serving as policemen in what seems to be a shooting gallery,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Asked how long U.S. troops would have to stay in Iraq, Rumsfeld said nobody knows.

“We intend to see it through and it’s going to take some patience,” he said. “And when it’s done it’s going to be darn well worth having done,” he added.

He did not say whether the 3rd Infantry Division would be replaced by another U.S. unit, although he said he expects thousands of international soldiers to begin operating in the country by late summer or early fall.

Rumsfeld said U.S. military commitments in Iraq total nearly four billion dollars per month, while monthly U.S. military spending in Afghanistan comes to about 950 million dollars.

Seeking Allies

Rumsfeld said 19,000 U.S.-led forces from 19 countries are on the ground. Another 19 countries have committed a total of 11,000 troops, which would bring the total to 30,000. Also, discussions are under way with 11 other countries. Franks said talks were continuing with Pakistan and India.

"We've got 19 countries on the ground, we've got commitment from another 19 ... Italy and Spain have both made commitments," added Rumsfeld, who said he expected additional deployments of foreign troops beginning in September.

"Our goal is to get a large number of international forces from a lot of countries," he said, including France and Germany, opponents of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

But French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said in an interview published Thursday that Paris will only join a multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq if it is under a U.N. mandate.

"I would hope that internationalization would serve to reduce the threat to U.S. forces in more ways than reducing the quantity of U.S. forces on the ground," said Senator Carl Levin, the committee's ranking Democrat.

"Up until now we have been the main target ... because we are the ones who brought down Saddam's regime," said Levin, a vocal critic of the military campaign.

He said he believed attacks against forces operating under a United Nations or NATO mandate would be rarer "because it would be dramatized to the people of Iraq that this is not a U.S.-British operation, but an international effort."

Concern has been mounting in the United States that troops in Iraq are getting bogged down in an open-ended guerrilla war, with commanders on the ground saying they are noticing increasingly sophisticated attacks.

A total of 74 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the 71 days since U.S. President George W. Bush declared the end of major hostilities, 29 of whom were killed in combat operations, according to a Defense Department official.