Iraq mission "essential," Rumsfeld says

WASHINGTON — Painting an optimistic picture of Iraq's future, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday warned that the U.S. mission in Iraq is "essential to protecting the lives of the American people."

Rumsfeld said progress in Iraq cannot be measured by the level of bloodshed or the number of terrorist attacks, and criticized news outlets for dwelling on violence in reports from Iraq.

Also Monday, the Pentagon announced the appointment of a retired four-star Army general to lead an expanded task force to seek solutions to the threat posed by improvised explosive devices (IED), which have become the leading cause of death of U.S. troops in Iraq.

The appointment of retired Army Gen. Montgomery Meigs, a former commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe and of NATO's peacekeeping force in Bosnia, came after criticism from senior U.S. commanders — including from Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, who heads all U.S. forces in the Middle East — that Washington was not giving a high-enough priority to solving the IED problem.

Critics have said that the current IED task force, with a one-star general in charge, lacks the clout to pressure agencies such as the CIA, FBI and Department of Energy to devote more resources and full-time personnel to the effort.

Rumsfeld's remarks to an audience of graduate-school students in Washington came during a weeklong push by the Bush administration to shore up declining public support for the Iraq war. Since President Bush outlined a "strategy for victory" in an address at the U.S. Naval Academy on Wednesday, a number of senior U.S. officials in speeches and interviews have attempted to detail plans for success in a war that is approaching its third anniversary.

Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to continue the campaign today during a speech at Fort Drum, N.Y., where he will address soldiers returning from Iraq. Senior Republican legislators, including Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, scheduled a news conference today to tout progress being made.

Citing achievements since the U.S.-led war began, Rumsfeld assailed the U.S. news media's focus on attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians, and said positive developments are being kept from the American public.

"To be responsible, one needs to stop defining success in Iraq as the absence of terrorist attacks," Rumsfeld said.

"Which view of Iraq is more accurate, the pessimistic view of the so-called elites in our country, or the more optimistic view expressed by millions of Iraqis and by some 155,000 U.S. troops on the ground?" Rumsfeld asked.

Meanwhile, Democratic Chairman Howard Dean on Monday likened the war in Iraq to Vietnam and said, "The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong," comments that drew immediate fire from Republicans.

In an interview with WOAI-AM in San Antonio, Dean criticized what he called President Bush's "permanent commitment to a failed strategy" while saying, "We need to be out of there and take the targets off our troops' back." Dean said the strategy to stay the course in Vietnam cost thousands more lives.

"I wish the president had paid more attention to the history of Iraq before we had gotten in there," Dean said. "The idea that we're going to win this war is just plain wrong."

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said Dean's "outrageous prediction sends the wrong message to our troops, the enemy, and the Iraqi people just 10 days before historic elections."

Other developments

• In western Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi troops launched an operation Monday in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, part of a continued effort "to neutralize the insurgency and set the conditions for a successful Dec. 15 election," a U.S. statement said.

At least one Bradley fighting vehicle was destroyed in Ramadi when it was hit by a roadside bomb, but there were no injuries, Iraqi police said.

• The U.S. service member who was killed when a patrol hit a roadside bomb Sunday was identified as a soldier assigned to Task Force Baghdad. At least 2,128 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count.

• In Baghdad, gunmen ambushed an Iraqi army patrol, killing five soldiers, police Capt. Talib Thamir said.

Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.