WASHINGTON -
hard slog in the fight against al-Qaida, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in a pointed memo raising questions about the future of the war on terrorism.
Rumsfeld said the U.S.-led coalitions would win in Afghanistan and Iraq, but so far have had mixed results. He wrote that the United States has made reasonable progress in capturing or killing the top 55 Iraqis but has made somewhat slower progress tracking down top Taliban leaders who sheltered al-Qaida in Afghanistan.
My impression is that we have not yet made truly bold moves although we have made many sensible logical moves in the right direction
but are they enough? Rumsfeld wrote in the memo, dated Oct. 16, and first reported by USA Today yesterday.
Rumsfeld said yesterday he sent the memo to keep top Pentagon officials thinking about the broader implications of the war on terrorism.
I asked questions. I didn't answer questions
Rumsfeld told reporters after meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Elevating that issue forces people to think about it in the broadest possible context
which is why I did so.
The memo also raised the possibility of creating a new team or agency in the federal government specifically to fight terrorism worldwide.
The Pentagon released a copy of the memo, addressed to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers and two of their deputies. In it, Rumsfeld offered a much more stark assessment of the global war on terrorism than he often gives publicly.
It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another
but it will be a long
hard slog
he wrote.
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden of Delaware, said the memo is a little different than the sort of self-assurance that was communicated to us in Congress.
This is the first sort of introspection that I have even whiffed coming out of the civilian side of the Defense Department
Biden told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Rumsfeld said the memo did not say anything different from what he and President Bush had said in the past.
As the president said
it will take time and will require all the elements of national power to deal with the war on terror
