Rumsfeld Stresses Optimistic View of Iraq

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declared Monday that the mission in Iraq was essential to national security, and he painted an optimistic picture of that country’s future. Rumsfeld said progress in Iraq could not be measured by the amount of bloodshed or the number of insurgent attacks, and he criticized news outlets for dwelling on the violence.

Also Monday, the Pentagon announced that a retired four-star Army general would lead an expanded task force to determine how to lessen the threat from improvised explosive devices, a leading killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.

The appointment of retired Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, a former commander of Army forces in Europe and of NATO’s peacekeeping force in Bosnia-Herzegovina, came after criticism from senior U.S. commanders -- including Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, who heads all U.S. forces in the Middle East -- that Washington was not making the problem a high enough priority.

Critics have said the current task force, led by a one-star general, lacks the clout to pressure agencies such as the CIA, FBI and Energy Department to devote more resources and full-time personnel to the effort.

Rumsfeld’s remarks to graduate students in Washington came during a weeklong push by the Bush administration to shore up support for the war among the U.S. public. Since President Bush outlined a “strategy for victory” in an address at the U.S. Naval Academy on Wednesday, a number of senior U.S. officials in speeches and interviews have attempted to detail plans for success.

Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to continue the campaign today during a speech at Ft. Drum, N.Y., where he will address soldiers returning from Iraq. Senior Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, also have joined the administration effort.

Rumsfeld said the mission in Iraq was “essential to protecting the lives of the American people.” Citing achievements since the U.S.-led war began, he assailed the news media’s focus on attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians, and said positive developments were being kept from the American public.

“To be responsible, one needs to stop defining success in Iraq as the absence of terrorist attacks,” he said.

“Which view of Iraq is more accurate, the pessimistic view of the so-called elites in our country, or the more optimistic view expressed by millions of Iraqis and by some 155,000 U.S. troops on the ground?” Rumsfeld asked.

During a question-and-answer session after his speech, at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Rumsfeld addressed recent reports that the U.S. military was paying to have positive news stories published in Iraq.

Rumsfeld said Army Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, was investigating. The Defense secretary also raised the possibility that a private defense contractor working with the military, Washington-based Lincoln Group, might have violated Pentagon policy.

“We know what the policy was. And now the question is ... was [the contractor] implementing the policy properly?” Rumsfeld said.

Lincoln Group has declined to answer questions about its activities in Iraq but said in a statement last week that its work aimed to encourage truthful reporting by Iraqi media.