We’d Go It Alone, Rumsfeld Tells Marines

Speaking to those who might do the fighting, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that President Bush will not be dissuaded by a lack of international allies if he decides to use military force to topple Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

Rumsfeld told several thousand Marines that he is confident other nations will follow if the United States shows leadership in moving to rid the region of a dangerous despot who is amassing weapons of mass destruction.

“It is less important to be unanimous than it is to be making the right decision and doing the right thing, even though at the outset it may seem lonely,” Rumsfeld said.

The go-it-alone message found instant favor among the Marines, many of whom have served in Afghanistan and are training for conditions similar to those in Iraq.

“Having a coalition is good, but we need to be self-sufficient to defend our freedom and safety,” said Cpl. Robert Robinson. “If they want us, the Marines are ready, like always.”

“The Marines are strong enough to do what needs to be done,” said Pvt. Ryan Strandberg.

There are now 2000 Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton and San Diego aboard ships in the Persian Gulf region, ready for an amphibious assault.

Marines from here were the first conventional combat troops in Afghanistan, seizing a Taliban military camp in late November and helping seal the Afghan opposition fighters’ victory at Kandahar, once a Taliban stronghold.

Rumsfeld’s message was clear. Marines from Camp Pendleton played a decisive role in Afghanistan and may be called upon again soon.

Rumsfeld spoke from a podium flanked by four light-armored vehicles used by Marine “hunter-killer” teams in Afghanistan to corral or kill fleeing Taliban and Al Qaeda forces to keep them from regrouping for a counterattack. “Thank you for all you do for our country, our freedom and for all the world,” Rumsfeld said to cheers.

As the Marines waited for Rumsfeld’s arrival, Maj. Gen. James Mattis, who commanded Marines in Afghanistan, told his troops to help convince Rumsfeld that “we’re looking forward to the [Iraqi] brawl if you and the president want to send us.”

Asked by several Marines whether the U.S. would act even if it could not gather a coalition Rumsfeld repeated variations on an answer: “Leadership in the right direction finds followers.”

Rep. Darrell E. Issa (R-Vista), who attended the Camp Pendleton speech, said he agreed with Rumsfeld. “It’s predictable when America leads,” he said.

Earlier Tuesday, Rumsfeld provided a similar round of thanks to several hundred sailors aboard the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, docked at the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego. He recalled that his father, who served in the Navy during World War II, had received a congratulatory letter from then-Navy Secretary James Forrestal, telling him he should be proud of his service.

“You, too, deserve to be proud of your service as long as you live,” Rumsfeld told the sailors massed in the hangar bay of the ship, which returned in mid-June after a six-month deployment in the north Arabian Sea.

Asked by a sailor if he anticipated large numbers of Iraqi POWs, Rumsfeld suggested that American forces would be viewed as liberators, not conquerors.

“The overwhelming number of people in Iraq are hostages,” he said. “When you think of them as hostages, the situation is quite different.”