No possibilty of negotiating with Iraq, says Rumsfeld
The United States has ruled out the possibility of negotiating a ceasefire with Baghdad or accepting any third party peace plan.
“There will be no outcome to this war that leaves (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein and his regime in power. Let there be no doubt,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news briefing.
Rumsfeld accused Baghdad of spreading rumors that “the coalition has entered into a cease-fire negotiation with the regime and that there’s a third-party peace plan under consideration.” “Their goal is to try to convince the people of Iraq that the coalition does not intend to finish the job,” he said.
The US defense secretary stressed that there are no negotiations taking place with anyone in President Saddam’s government. “The only thing the coalition will discuss with this regime is their unconditional surrender,” Rumsfeld said.
Addressing the same news briefing, Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that US forces will make “bigger pushes” in Iraq once they are ready. But the top US general did not provide any specific timetable for such assault.
Meanwhile, two Iraqi surface-to-surface missiles were fired early yesterday at US troops near the central Iraqi city of Najaf, but caused no injuries, the CNN reported.
This was the first time that Iraq fired surface-to-surface missiles at the US troops since the beginning of the war on March 20, the report said.
The attack triggered an alert among the 101st US airborne division troops stationed near the city as soldiers donned gas masks amid fears that such missiles might have chemical warheads. But the alert was over soon after it was confirmed that the missiles did not carry chemical warheads, the report said.
The firing of Iraqi missiles was another sign that the battle for the control of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad has begun.
Earlier Wednesday, US troops engaged in the first major ground battle with the Iraqi elite Republican Guard near the holy Shiite Muslim city of Karbala, 80 kilometers south of Baghdad, US defense officials said in Washington.
http://www.kentimes.com/nwsstory/mainiraq.html