QATAR: The US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, heaped praise on US troops in Qatar yesterday for the coalition victory in Iraq. He drew comparisons with the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and the 1945 liberation of Paris.
Mr Rumsfeld and Gen Tommy Franks joined photocalls with throngs of soldiers at the coalition military headquarters in Qatar, as Joe Cocker's classic With a little help from my friends blasted from a sound system.
"Think of the scenes we've all witnessed - free Iraqis pulling down a statue of Saddam Hussein, embracing coalition forces and celebrating their new-found freedom," Mr Rumsfeld said.
"It will certainly take its place alongside the Berlin Wall, the liberation of Paris. And each of you helped make that happen."
Although Mr Rumsfeld refrained from using the word "victory," his tour of the region was clearly meant to celebrate the fall of Saddam Hussein.
In an interview with Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera, Mr Rumsfeld provided assurances that the US had no intention of establishing long-term bases in Iraq and its troops would only stay as long as they were needed.
As a meeting bringing together hundreds of Iraqis to prepare a new post-Saddam government convened in Baghdad, Mr Rumsfeld said the US-led troops in Iraq were working to create an environment in which Iraqis could choose their own government, and to provide humanitarian assistance.
He acknowledged the coalition forces could be said to be occupying Iraq, but added: "We're occupying the country for a very short period of time. We don't seek empires. We're not imperialistic, we've never been," he said.
Mr Rumsfeld met the top US commanders, including: Gen David McKiernan, Lieut Gen T. Michael Moseley, Vice-Admiral Timothy Keating, and Lieut Gen Earl Hailston.
Mr Rumsfeld said his best decision was "asking Gen Franks to do this", adding "There were a lot of hand wringers around weren't there?" when asked about mid-campaign criticism of Gen Franks's battle plan by retired generals.
Adapting a phrase of Churchill's on the 1940 Battle of Britain, Mr Rumsfeld said: "Never have so many been so wrong about so much.
"What all of you have accomplished will go down in the history books," he said, praising them as the "best trained, best equipped and finest troops on the face of the earth".
Mr Rumsfeld said the campaign would be studied for lessons to be applied in transforming the US military.
"Baghdad was liberated in less than a month, possibly the fastest march on a capital in modern military history," he said.