Rumsfeld Urges Iraqis to Act Fast

In an unexpected visit to Iraq on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld urged Iraqis to move ahead on the political, diplomatic and military fronts in order to stabilize the country.

Rumsfeld, who was on his 10th trip to Iraq since the war began, urged Iraqis to meet the Aug. 15 deadline for drafting a constitution. “We don’t want any delays,” he told reporters. “Now’s the time to get on with it.”

“It’s time for a compromise. That’s what politics are about and people are simply going to have to recognize that [in] any constitutional drafting process, compromise is necessary. It’s important. It’s understandable. It’s the way democratic systems work,” Rumsfeld said.

Humam Hamoodi, chairman of the Constitutional Commission said members would work through the week to complete a draft. Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Hamoodi suggested that a conference of high-level leaders of political parties might be held to try to hammer out the most difficult issues.

Rumsfeld also recommended that leaders talk bluntly to Iraq’s neighbors about the need to stem the tide of insurgents entering the country.

His comments signaled U.S. concern over the seeming stasis in the country. The insurgency has gathered strength, Iraq is deeply divided in its effort to draft a constitution and the government is under fire for its failure to deliver on citizens’ needs -- security, electricity and clean water.

At the same time, the transitional government is under pressure from both Sunni Arabs and some nationalist Shiites to give guarantees that U.S. troops will leave soon.

However, Iraqis fear they will not be able to contain the insurgency by themselves. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari, who met with Rumsfeld, said Iraqis wanted to be consulted on any departure schedule for U.S. troops.

“We do not want to be surprised by a withdrawal that is not in connection with our Iraqi timing,” he said.

Key to any U.S. withdrawal is the training and deployment of Iraqi army units and national guardsmen. Although seemingly large numbers of Iraqi security forces have been trained, they often seem ill-equipped to fight the insurgency.

Iraq has about 77,000 soldiers, most of them infantrymen. The number is expected to grow to 85,000. Among them are special units dedicated to fighting the insurgency. The country also has 94,000 police, most for patrol and traffic work, but also some elite commando units that fight rebels, according to the most recent media reports.

Asked how soon a U.S. withdrawal should happen, Jafari said no exact timetable had been set. “But we confirm and we desire speed in that regard,” he said, speaking through a translator.

But the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey, said troops would be reduced next spring if the political process moved forward.

“I do believe that if the political process continues to go positively, if the developments with the [Iraqi] security forces continue to go as it is going, I do believe we will still be able to make fairly substantial reductions after these elections -- in the spring and summer of next year,” Casey said, according to reports by U.S. journalists traveling with Rumsfeld.

Casey has made similar statements before. However, President Bush refused to announce a timetable in a speech last month, saying only that he would start withdrawing troops as soon as Iraqi security forces were prepared to take over responsibility for the country’s security.

A British government memo leaked this month said Washington had a plan to cut the foreign presence in Iraq from more than 170,000 troops to just 66,000 by mid-2006. Officials in London confirmed the memo was genuine but said it reflected only one possible plan.

Meanwhile, Al Qaeda in Iraq, headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi, claimed responsibility Wednesday for killing two Algerian diplomats, Ali Billaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi, who were kidnapped in Baghdad last week. It was the second killing of Arab envoys in Iraq this month.

Algerian state radio aired an announcement from the office of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika saying the envoys had been killed. The statement did not say on what the announcement was based. Billaroussi, 62, and Belkadi, 47, were kidnapped at gunpoint July 21 in Baghdad.

The militant group posted a message on an Islamist website: “The head of the Algerian mission Ali Billaroussi and the diplomat Azzedine Belkadi, whose government is ruling in violation of God’s will, were killed.

They were slain because of the Algerian government’s repression of Muslims, the statement said.

In a video made public Tuesday, the pair were seen blindfolded, giving their names and home addresses.

In other incidents, three employees for the Ministry of Trade were shot on their way to work and four mortar rounds hit a garage in Baghdad, killing three and injuring 37, according to hospitals. It was not clear why the garage was targeted.