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War conduct is defended { March 26 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29480-2003Mar25.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29480-2003Mar25.html
Conduct of War Is Defended
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 26, 2003; Page A01
Bush administration officials vigorously defended themselves yesterday against criticism that their war plan underestimated the troops needed to subdue the Iraqi military, that they built expectations that the war would end quickly and that they have failed to deliver immediate humanitarian assistance for the Iraqi population.
President Bush, speaking at the Pentagon, said that U.S. and other forces in the Persian Gulf region are "on a steady advance" and "making good progress." He said that while no one can predict how long the war will last, "We know its outcome. We will prevail, the Iraqi regime will be disarmed, the Iraqi regime will be ended, the Iraqi people will be free and our world will be more secure and peaceful."
But Bush's chief military advisers and others faced a barrage of questions about how the war has unfolded. A week of precision airstrikes has badly damaged government buildings and facilities around Iraq but so far has shown little sign of demolishing the Iraqi leadership's resistance, something that Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said three weeks ago was a principal goal of the campaign.
Officials responded by hewing to Bush's assurances that the campaign is moving forward according to plan while asserting that they had never sought to raise expectations that the war would be short or easy. "In the big scope of things, we're on track," Myers said at a Pentagon briefing. "We're on plan. We think we have just the right forces for what we need to do now."
There were signs, however, that -- with news of unexpected resistance by elements of the Iraqi army in southern Iraq and with reports of Americans killed, wounded or captured -- the public has taken a less optimistic view about how the war is going. The Pew Research Center reported yesterday that the percentage of Americans who said the war is going "very well" dropped sharply between Friday and Monday, although overall support for the war remained strong and constant.
Bush urged Congress to act quickly on his supplemental request for $74.7 billion to help underwrite part of the cost of the war and the initial reconstruction of Iraq, as well as to provide funds for homeland defense and some key allies in the Middle East. Other administration officials rebutted criticism that the administration had deliberately waited until Congress was nearly done with its debate on the fiscal 2004 budget to submit the supplemental request.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld left open the possibility that the administration might ask for more money later, saying it is too early to know how much the war and the reconstruction will cost. "I have said repeatedly we don't know what the war is going to cost. You can't know what the war is going to cost. It's not knowable."
Rumsfeld and Myers sought to rebut criticism from some retired military officers and other analysts, who have argued that the Pentagon war plan failed to put enough forces into the Persian Gulf to suppress resistance in southern Iraq as other divisions dashed toward Baghdad for a showdown with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard.
Rumsfeld said the war plan calls for a steady escalation in the strength of U.S. forces inside Iraq and that, even with setbacks, the buildup is going forward. "Forces increase in the country every minute and every hour of every day, and that will continue to be the case," he said.
U.S. officials dismissed the military significance of the continued fighting in southern Iraq, describing it as terrorism and not a series of organized military operations that would represent "a serious threat to the success of the campaign."
Administration officials were also asked about statements by Vice President Cheney, on March 16, that the regular Iraqi forces might not put up a fight and that "significant elements of the Republican Guard . . . are likely to step aside."
Myers and Rumsfeld said that it is still too early to draw any conclusions about the fighting spirit of the Republican Guard. "We haven't engaged them in a classic battle," Myers said. "So their mettle has yet to be tested. We're going to have to find out."
Rumsfeld expressed frustration with suggestions that the administration had raised expectations about the war. "If some analysts wants to say it's going to be a cakewalk and it turns out not to be a cakewalk, the fact of the matter is, we have said repeatedly we can't say how long it will last," Rumsfeld said. "We do not know. It's not knowable."
He noted that the administration faced similar criticism during the early stages of the war in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, just days before the swift collapse of the Taliban regime there.
Rumsfeld warned that the war "could well grow more dangerous" as U.S. forces move in on Baghdad. He said there were "intelligence scraps" suggesting that the closer the forces get to Baghdad, there would be a risk that Iraqi forces may be authorized to use chemical weapons. Rumsfeld said it was unclear how accurate such intelligence is. Myers said that, while U.S. forces have seen no use of chemical or biological weapons, "[w]hen we do, we have plans to deal with that."
On the question of how quickly humanitarian aid may start to flow into Iraq, administration officials said they have been slowed by the need to clear the channel to the port of Umm Qasr in southern Iraq, after fears that the Iraqis had mined the harbor. The mine-clearing operation has delayed the arrival of several ships bearing large amounts of food, water and other aid.
Bush said on Sunday that significant humanitarian assistance would begin to move within 36 hours, but White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the administration "didn't expect the Iraqis to cease caring about their own people, to cease feeding their own people, to put up impediments to the humanitarian relief supplies."
The Pew poll that was released yesterday found that 72 percent of those surveyed said the United States did the right thing in using military force to disarm Iraq. But the percentage saying the war was going very well declined from 71 percent on Friday and Saturday to 52 percent on Sunday -- a day of tough fighting, casualties and reports on the first captured U.S. soldiers -- and then to 38 percent on Monday.
Fleischer said White House officials believe the American people are steeled to the likely consequences of war. He noted that the president had spoken explicitly about the risks involved in launching military action. "I think the American people have fully understood all the way along that there is risk, that there is sacrifice as the nation prepared for war," he said.
On March 4, Myers told reporters that he and other military planners hoped for a "short conflict." He added: "The best way to do that is to have such a shock on the system that the Iraqi regime would have to assume early on that the end is inevitable."
Yesterday, Myers held to the view that the end of Hussein's rule is inevitable, but said he had never intended to understate the duration of the war. "I hope I did not imply any timeline with that. I've never talked about a timeline. Go back and check the record, but I don't think I've ever talked about a timeline, because it's unknowable."
The White House yesterday formally sent its war spending request to Capitol Hill, with more specifics than officials outlined Monday night. The request, covering six months, seeks $62.6 billion for the Pentagon, including "at least" $53.4 billion for military operations in Iraq, "up to" $3.7 billion to replenish weapons, "at least" $1.7 billion for classified activities and "up to" $1.1 billion for equipment development and procurement.
The exact sum for homeland security is $4.25 billion, with $3.5 billion going to the new Department of Homeland Security and the rest to the Justice Department and the White House. In addition, the administration proposes to administer a $2.4 billion "flexible account" out of the White House and oversee Iraq relief and reconstruction. Of that, $1.7 billion is for rebuilding Iraq, $543 million for refugees and humanitarian needs, and up to $200 million to replenish emergency food stocks.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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