US: As the US military death toll in Iraq reached 1,000 yesterday, the Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, gave a grim assessment of the US-led war against Iraqi insurgents, saying there was a likelihood they would increase the violence as elections approached in January writes Conor O'Clery in New York.
Making his first appearance at a Pentagon press conference since mid-July, Mr Rumsfeld linked the terrorist attacks in Russia with the conflict in Iraq, saying: "There really are no free passes in this struggle, this war, no free passes for countries, no free passes for individuals."
Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that the enemy in Iraq was becoming more sophisticated in its efforts to destabilise the country.
This, he said, explained the recent spike in US troop deaths - 14 in the last two days - which late yesterday brought the total of US military casualties in Iraq to 1,000 since the March 2003 invasion.
Anticipating renewed debate about the Iraq war because of the psychologically important 1,000 figure, Mr Rumsfeld made a direct link between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks on America.
"The civilised world passed the 1,000 casualty mark a long time ago," he said, recalling that some 3,000 people were killed in the al-Qaeda attacks three years ago. He also noted that a casualty rate of two American soldiers a day given the number of military patrols was "relatively small."
Mr Rumsfeld dismissed any suggestion that the Pentagon had underestimated the resistance to US forces, saying: "Our enemies have underestimated our country, our coalition, certainly our commander in chief."
Terrorists and former regime elements were realising how close they were to democracy emerging in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said, and the likelihood was that they would increase the violence rather than decrease it, as it would be a blow to them if Iraq and Afghanistan were successful.
In the last month up to 2,500 "former regime elements, criminals and terrorists" were killed in fighting in Iraq, Mr Rumsfeld added. "Is that a lot? Yes. Does it hurt them? Yes. Is it a lot out of 25 million people? No".
Gen Myers forecast a December offensive by US-led forces in Iraq to recapture no-go areas before the elections.
The overall strategy for the cities, he said, was that Iraqi security forces must be trained, equipped and led so that once control had been reasserted by US-led forces, the Iraqi army could take over.
Asked if elections could be held successfully in Iraq if there were still no-go areas, Gen Myers left the question open, saying it was up to the interim Iraqi government "to sort through their priorities."
Referring to Russia, Mr Rumsfeld said: "The terror attack underscored that there are people in many parts of the world determined to alter the behaviour of the rest of the world."
"This is a global struggle between extremists and people who want to be left alone to live free lives," he said, and "the civilised world must stay on the offensive."
The Democratic candidate for president, Senator John Kerry, yesterday stepped up his attacks on President George Bush's "catastrophic" choice to go to war in Iraq, saying that a record budget deficit of $422 billion caused by the war could have been used for healthcare and education.
Mr Bush said Mr Kerry had borrowed a line from his rival in the primaries, Mr Howard Dean, when he said on Monday that Iraq was "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time."