The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said yesterday that he expected more attacks on US troops in Iraq this month but that the 150,000-strong force was likely to stay for the ”foreseeable future”.
Rumsfeld was echoing military intelligence reports that attacks could come on a string of anniversaries linked to the Saddam and Ba’ath party regime.
”I’m afraid we’re going to have to expect this to go on and there’s even speculation that during the month of July, which is an anniversary for a lot of Ba’athist events, we could see an increase in the number of attacks,” he said.
His prediction came as a group claiming to be linked to al-Qaida said in a tape broadcast on the Dubai-based al-Arabiya television that they and not Saddam’s followers were behind the attacks in Iraq.
The tape also warned of a new anti-US attack in days to come which would ”break the back of America completely”.
Key anniversaries include today’s, marking the 1958 coup against the monarchy; Wednesday’s, marking Saddam’s rise to power in 1979; and Thursday’s anniversary of the Ba’ath party revolution 11 years earlier.
On May 1, Bush proclaimed the end of all major combat, but 31 US soldiers have since died and scores more hurt in guerrilla attacks.
Rumsfeld cautioned yesterday that ”we’re still at war”, and it would not be possible to reduce the American military presence any time soon.
He portrayed the attacks as a paradoxical consequence of the invasion’s success, saying that the ”more progress we make, I’m afraid, the more vicious the attacks will become”.
Rumsfeld said that there were a lot of Ba’athists and Fedayeen ”who are disadvantaged by the fact that their regime has been thrown out and would like to get back, but they’re not going to succeed”.
He said there was evidence that some attacks, particularly in the north, were coordinated, but denied that the coalition was ”bogged down”.
”We’ve been there less than 10 weeks, is that bogged down? How long were we in Germany? How long were we in Japan?” he asked. ”The president has said we are going to use as many forces as are necessary for as long as it takes.” – Guardian Unlimited Â