Diggers A Blessing For US: Rumsfeld
The Australian ^ | 6th June 2006 | Patrick Walters

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has praised the capability of Australia's defence forces, describing Washington's close military ties with Canberra as a "blessing" for the US.

Mr Rumsfeld declined to be drawn on any timetable for withdrawal of US-led coalition forces in Iraq and said Australia's future military involvement was a matter for Canberra to determine.

"Clearly it's our desire to draw down forces. Clearly it's the Iraqi people's desire to have foreign forces draw down," he said in an interview with The Australian in Singapore.

But he said no one wanted to see any withdrawal of coalition forces in a manner that would generate further instability.

Mr Rumsfeld said the US remained "enormously appreciative" of the regional leadership role played by Australia, citing the recent military intervention in East Timor.

He is on a five-day trip to Southeast Asia, which has taken him to Singapore, Hanoi and Jakarta, with whom Washington recently resumed full defence ties.

Asked whether Australia was pulling its weight in the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Rumsfeld replied: "Oh, my goodness, yes. It is a blessing to have a relationship like that.

"The people of that country and the government of that country are so capable. Capable in the sense of deciding something and doing something and doing it so well. They are enormously capable forces."

Mr Rumsfeld said he would not dictate to Canberra any view on its future military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I don't like to be in a position of telling other countries what I think they ought to do," he said.

Questioned about Iraq, Mr Rumsfeld said he thought the Iraqi people had a good chance of "making it", pointing to the increasing capability of the Iraqi army and internal security forces to tackle the threat posed by insurgents. In a speech to a security conference at the weekend, Mr Rumsfeld said it would be the Iraqi people who would suppress the insurgency, "not the coalition forces and not foreign forces".

The Iraqi security forces have been trained up to a level of 267,000 men.

"We have already passed over 30 (military) bases to the Iraqis. We have passed over three or four provinces to the Iraqis. They are currently doing something like 50 per cent of Baghdad."

Asked about the insurgent threat, Mr Rumsfeld said he believed the Iraqi people had had "a bellyful" of innocent men, women and children being killed.

"One example is the number of tips (tip-offs). If you look at the number of tips, they have gone from handfuls up to the thousands," he said.

"The Sunnis, who have stayed out and would not participate early on, now are in. I think the Iraqi people have a good chance of making it."

Mr Rumsfeld said the new Iraqi Government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would require competent ministers to fill the crucial posts of defence minister and interior minister.

"To his great credit the reason he has not yet put them in place is because he was determined that they be competent and that they govern from the centre," he said. "And that is why it is taking so darn long for them to get those people in place."