WASHINGTON, Sept 17: With the US military fighting a deadly guerilla war in Iraq, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday the United States must not let the world think it will retreat from a fight “every time we got our nose bloodied”.
Mr Rumsfeld told military and government officials at the Pentagon’s National Defence University that he stressed to President George Bush before accepting the top Pentagon job nearly three years ago that the United States must always steer a firm military course.
“I said I was personally of the opinion that it was unhelpful for our country if the world believed that every time we got our nose bloodied we tucked in and came home,” he said in response to questions following a speech.
“You know the old story in Chicago: If you act like a door mat, people are gonna wipe their feet on you.”
Mr Rumsfeld, under fire from critics who say the Pentagon did not plan properly for the difficult aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq, did not mention the country when he was asked a question about civilian control over the military.
But the secretary’s response evoked America’s bitter defeat and retreat from the Vietnam War and the rapid withdrawal of US peacekeepers from Somalia .
BITTER VIETNAM EXPERIENCE: The Vietnam experience left many in the US military reluctant to commit the troops to anything less than overwhelming victory in combat.
“My feeling was that I wanted him (Bush) to know if I was going to accept this job that the first time we got our nose bloodied, I would not be leaning back and asking to tuck in, I would be leaning forward and asking him to lean forward with me,” Mr Rumsfeld said.
Some Democrats in the US Congress have called on Mr Rumsfeld to resign over Iraq, but the White House has expressed Mr Bush’s firm support for him.
The secretary did not suggest that US military leaders were pressing to get out of Iraq, where US troops are coming under fire daily. He said that civilian and military leaders at the Pentagon agreed on the need to transform the military to become more agile in the new US-declared war on terrorism.—Reuters