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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday refused to rule out
U.S. troops still being in Iraq in 10 years or the possibility that the United
States could use military force against neighboring Syria and Iran.
Rice deferred to the decisions of President Bush and military commanders as
Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pressed
her for more specifics on the U.S. strategy in Iraq.
Asked specifically whether the United States would have troops in Iraq in five
or 10 years, Rice said: "I think that even to try and speculate on how
many years from now there will be a certain number of American forces is not
appropriate."
Lawmakers also pressed her on strategy for dealing with Iran and Syria. U.S.
officials have accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to flow across its
borders into Iraq and Iran of supporting the insurgency.
Rice said the United States was using diplomatic means to urge a change in
the behavior of both countries-- but she stopped short of ruling out military
force. "I'm not going to get into what the president's options might be,"
Rice said. "I don't think the president ever takes any of his options off
the table concerning anything to do with military force."
Testifying before the committee for the first time since February, Rice sought
to reassure jittery members of Congress that the Bush administration had a plan
for success: helping Iraqis clear out insurgents and build durable, national
institutions.
She told lawmakers the United States will follow a model that was successful
in Afghanistan. Starting next month, she said, joint diplomatic-military groups--
Provincial Reconstruction Teams-- will work alongside Iraqis as they train police,
set up courts, and help local governments establish essential services.
But even as Rice tried to crystalize the plan, Republicans and Democrats asked
her pointed questions they say Americans need to know.
"I'm not looking for a date to get out of Iraq," Sen. Joseph Biden
of Delaware, the top Democrat on the panel, said. "But at what point, assuming
the strategy works, do you think we'll be able to see some sign of bringing
some American forces home?"
Rice declined to answer directly, choosing to leave an estimate to military
commanders. "I don't want to hazard what I think would be a guess, even
if it were an assessment, of when that might be possible," Rice said.
Later, Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., told Rice that her response to questions
about U.S. troop withdrawal "leads me to draw the conclusion that you're
leaving open the possibility that 10 years from now we will still have military
forces in Iraq."
"Senator, I don't know how to speculate about what will happen 10 years
from now, but I do believe that we are moving on a course on which Iraqi security
forces are rather rapidly able to take care of their own security concerns,"
Rice responded.
Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island
were among several lawmakers who asked Rice whether the Bush administration
was considering military action against Iran and Syria, and asked whether the
president would circumvent congressional authorization if the White House chose
that option.
"I will not say anything that constrains his authority as commander in
chief," Rice said.
The lawmakers' queries followed Rice's earlier remarks that: "Syria and,
indeed, Iran must decide whether they wish to side with the cause of war or
with the cause of peace."
As Rice spoke, a woman in the second row of spectators shouted "Stop the
killing in Iraq." A police officer motioned her out of the room.
By State Department design, Rice testified before the committee just days after
Iraq apparently approved its first constitution since a U.S.-led coalition ousted
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. Her appearance also coincided with the
start of Saddam's trial in Baghdad for a massacre of 150 of his fellow Iraqis.
At the White House, press secretary Scott McClellan praised Saddam's trial
as "a symbol that the rule of law is returning to Iraq."
Rice heralded the referendum on the charter as "a landmark" and said
the US. strategy was moving from a stage of transition to a stage of preparing
a permanent Iraqi government.
"Clear areas from insurgent control, to hold them securely, and to build
durable, national Iraqi institutions," Rice said
"Our strategy is to clear, hold, and build," she said. "The
enemy's strategy is to infect, terrorize, and pull down."
Alongside Iraqi allies, she said, the United States is working to dismantle
the insurgent network and disrupt foreign support for them, maintain security
in areas insurgents no longer hold, and build national institutions to "sustain
security forces, bring rule of law, visibly deliver essential services, and
offer the Iraqi people hope for a better economic future."
With President Bush's poll numbers dragged down by public discomfort over Iraq,
Rice was seeking to reassure lawmakers-- who are feeling the heat from their
war-weary constituents-- that U.S. policies toward Iraq are sound.
Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are raising questions about the Bush
administration's diplomatic and military plans in Iraq amid a rising U.S. death
toll, soaring costs and slumping public support for the war.
Saturday's vote was a political milestone on Iraq's path to forming a legitimate
democratic government. Efforts by skeptical Sunni Arabs to defeat the charter
appear to have failed, but the Bush administration has embraced their unexpectedly
large turnout at the polls as a sign democracy is taking root.
The next step is in December, when Iraqis elect a new parliament and a new
government-- the first permanent, constitutional government since Saddam's regime
ended.