Rumsfeld Says Iraqis Would Stop Civil War [View All]

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http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/28-03092006-623895.html

Rumsfeld Says Iraqis Would Stop Civil War

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - If Iraq were to plunge into all-out civil war the U.S. military would depend on Iraq's own security forces to deal with it "to the extent they are able to," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday.

Testifying with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in support of the administration's request for $91 billion in funds mainly to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rumsfeld was pressed to explain the U.S. military's plan to respond in the event that Iraq's sectarian violence grows into a full-fledged civil war.

"The plan is to prevent a civil war, and to the extent one were to occur, to have the - from a security standpoint - have the Iraqi security forces deal with it, to the extent they are able to," Rumsfeld said.

He said the key to avoiding civil war is for Iraq's political leaders to form a government of national unity.