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US Deputy Defence Secretary Wolfowitz in Iraq
Baghdad, Feb 01: US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a key architect of the war to topple Saddam Hussein, today arrived in Baghdad on a previously unannounced visit to assess the security situation in Iraq.
Baghdad, Feb 01: US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a key architect of the war to topple Saddam Hussein, today arrived in Baghdad on a previously unannounced visit to assess the security situation in Iraq.
It was the third trip to Iraq for Wolfowitz since the war ended in April. During his the previous visit in October, the hotel where he was staying was hit by rocket propelled grenades.
Wolfowitz arrived by plane from Germany where he had been visiting US troops due to be deployed in Iraq in a major rotation of troops that poses security headaches for the American military.
He called the rotation an ``enormous undertaking`` and said one of his main purposes was to ``visit with our commanders and troops and get a sense of what they see (as) the situation the ground``.
``(I will) assess progress in this country since I was last here,`` he told reporters travelling with him to Baghdad.``
``It`s been a very eventful three months that has included the capture of Saddam Hussein, which is a major event for the Iraqi people,`` he said.
US troops continue to face attacks by guerrillas opposed to the coalition occupation. Washington is eager to establish stability ahead of a planned hand-over of sovereignty to an Iraqi administration by July 01.
Yesterday, Wolfowitz dismissed criticism of the US decision to wage war in Iraq on the basis of intelligence that has now become the focus of growing scepticism.
Former chief US weapons inspector David Kay sparked a storm of controversy this week when he directly dismissed pre-war intelligence which asserted that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, nuclear weapons programmes and was an imminent threat to international peace.
``You have to make decisions based on the intelligence you have, not on the intelligence you`re going to discover later,`` Wolfowitz said in Germany. ``It`s very important to try to have the best intelligence you possibly can have.``
During Wolfowitz`s last visit to Baghdad in October, guerrillas fired rockets at the hotel where he was staying, killing one US soldier and wounding more than 15 people. Bureau Report
Wolfowitz arrived by plane from Germany where he had been visiting US troops due to be deployed in Iraq in a major rotation of troops that poses security headaches for the American military.
He called the rotation an ``enormous undertaking`` and said one of his main purposes was to ``visit with our commanders and troops and get a sense of what they see (as) the situation the ground``.
``(I will) assess progress in this country since I was last here,`` he told reporters travelling with him to Baghdad.``
``It`s been a very eventful three months that has included the capture of Saddam Hussein, which is a major event for the Iraqi people,`` he said.
US troops continue to face attacks by guerrillas opposed to the coalition occupation. Washington is eager to establish stability ahead of a planned hand-over of sovereignty to an Iraqi administration by July 01.
Yesterday, Wolfowitz dismissed criticism of the US decision to wage war in Iraq on the basis of intelligence that has now become the focus of growing scepticism.
Former chief US weapons inspector David Kay sparked a storm of controversy this week when he directly dismissed pre-war intelligence which asserted that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, nuclear weapons programmes and was an imminent threat to international peace.
``You have to make decisions based on the intelligence you have, not on the intelligence you`re going to discover later,`` Wolfowitz said in Germany. ``It`s very important to try to have the best intelligence you possibly can have.``
During Wolfowitz`s last visit to Baghdad in October, guerrillas fired rockets at the hotel where he was staying, killing one US soldier and wounding more than 15 people. Bureau Report