ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 5 - Rumsfeld Tells Iraq Critics To Look Beyond Attacks.

US Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld says US success in Iraq should not be measured by the number of insurgent attacks. As domestic support for the war wanes and the US military struggles to contain the stubborn insurgency, Pres George W. Bush has been forced to change the definition for success in Iraq. Rumsfeld underscored the change in emphasis on Dec 5, saying success was better gauged by political progress than attacks on coalition forces and Iraqis. "To be responsibleone needs to stop defining success in Iraq as the absence of terrorist attacks", Rumsfeld said. In recent weeks, the Bush administration has gone on the offensive against critics of the war, saying they are underplaying successes and exaggerating the difficulties. Speaking at Johns Hopkins University on Dec 5, Rumsfeld echoed that theme in a broad attack on the media. "I understand that there may be great pressure on many of them to tell a dramatic story", said Rumsfeld. "While it is easy to use a bombing or a terrorist attack to support that interest, it is not always the most accurate story, or at least not the full story". Rumsfeld also took a swipe at critics who have suggested the US should withdraw from Iraq, saying one of the difficulties facing the US was "calls for coalition withdrawal from some quarters that encourage those who are opposing the Iraqi legitimate government, and aid their fundraising and recruiting". Under pressure to convince the American people that the US can be successful in Iraq, the White House last week released its "Victory in Iraq" strategy. In tandem with its release, Bush and Rumsfeld have in the past week underscored the progress the US has made in training Iraqi security forces. Rumsfeld said the US had trained 214,000 security forces. But Iraqi vice-Pres Ghazi al-Yawer, cast doubt on the quality of the Iraqi security forces, saying they had suffered a large "setback" over the past six months as different sectarian and ethnic factions in the Iraqi military and police used their positions to settle political scores with opponents. Yawer, a Sunni, also said there would be a "huge vacuum" if the US pulled its forces out now. His comments come as Bush and his senior officials hint that the US may be able to withdraw some of its troops next year as Iraqi forces become increasingly capable of protecting their citizens against insurgent attacks. "Secretary Rumsfeld today sent dangerous mixed signals about Iraq", Senator John Kerry, the former Democrat Presidential candidate, said on Dec 5. "Does the Defense Secretary really just throw up his hands and accept that on-going terrorist attacks are inevitable in Iraq for the foreseeable future"?