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16 Foreign Pol'y Bull. 3 (2006)

handle is hein.journals/fnpbt16 and id is 1 raw text is: Iraq Iraq Iraq Holds National Assembly Elections, U.S. Embroiled in Shooting Incident of Italian Citizens Excerpts of Remarks by Secretary of State Powell, January 2, 20051 Secretary Colin L. Powell was interviewed on NBC's Meet the Press with Tim Russert. Q. Before we talk about Iraq and Mid- dle East, I want to show our viewers a website from the State Department, www.state.gov-you can find out about the welfare of American citizens who may have been affected by the tsunami, but also it provides links to all kinds of charitable organizations where our viewers can make their own contribu- tions. In terms of Iraq, Mr. Secretary, why didn't our government follow the Pow- ell Doctrine in Iraq, using overwhelm- ing force in order to win that war and win the peace? Secretary Powell. Well, at the begin- ning of the operation, I mean, those were heavy armored forces that went into Iraq and rather swiftly defeated the Iraqi army, what remnants were left. And you saw a very successful execution of the initial conflict. The challenge came afterward when we did not sense the growing insurgency and we were not able to anticipate how bad the insurgency would become and then put forces against it. But we audible these things and we make changes, and what my military colleagues have done is they have gone back up in size in terms of the number of U.S. forces that are there, back up to 150,000. We were supposed to be much lower. But the real solution is not just more U.S. or coalition forces. The real solution will be increasing the size and capability of Iraqi forces military forces, National Guard forces and police forces in order to dominate the communities and to domi- nate the ground so that insurgents do not get a free rid. But we are dealing with a difficult insurgency, but even in the midst of this insurgency the people of Iraq have made it clear they want to vote. They want to vote on the 30th of Janu- ary. I talked to Ambassador Negroponte in Baghdad just a little bit before coming to your show this morning, Tim, and he says that they are moving forward toward this election on the 30th of January. And even in the Sunni areas, where people are being threatened, people are coming out to reg- ister. People know that this is their chance to decide how they will be led. And they are not inclined toward this kind of violence and these insurgents. These insurgents have to be defeated. And we should not expect that even with a suc- cessful election the insurgency will be over. It will continue and they will have to be defeated. Why? Because they don't want democracy, they don't want the Iraqi people to decide how they will be led. They want to go back to tyranny and ter- ror and threatening of neighbors, and that can't be allowed to happen. Q. In light of the fact that the insur- gency is as formidable as it is, that we did not find weapons of mass destruc- tion, and, in fact, the Iraqis may choose a government that is much closer, more sympathetic to Iran than certainly Sad- dam Hussein was, knowing those things, would you recommend going to war now? Secretary Powell. We went to war because of the fact that the President was presented: one, that the considered judg- ment of the intelligence community was that there were weapons of mass destruc- tion; intention, which no doubt there was; capability to develop such weapons; a lot of unanswered questions over a period of 12 years; the absence of inspectors for five years; and a belief on the part of the intelligence community of the United States and other nations that there were stockpiles of such weapons; and there was a terrorist background to this organization, this regime, and 12 years of ignoring UN resolutions. So I think the President made the correct choice in light of the factors that existed at that time. Now, what we haven't found are the weapons of mass destruction, the stock- piles. The capability and intent were there. But what we have to do now is look for- ward and have a successful election, allow the Iraqi people to decide. The Saddam Hussein regime is gone, just as the Taliban regime in Afghanistan is gone, and we've gotten rid of two terrible dictatorships. And what we have to do in 2005 is to build democracy. Now, Iranian Shiite thinking and Iraqi Shiite thinking are quite different. They're two different groups. And the new govern- ment that comes into place in Baghdad, the Transitional National Assembly, will be majority Shia. That's the majority of the population. But the Transitional Administrative Law under which it's being held will protect the rights of the Kurdish Foreign Policy Bulletin 3

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