WASHINGTON – Ex-prisoners, non-Iraqi fighters and Ba’ath Party loyalists are likely to step up their campaign against Americans this summer and kill more soldiers before peace is established in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday.
As soon as this month, Ba’athists marking “a number of anniversaries” could use July as the kickoff for even more violence against the 147,000 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq to help keep the peace, Rumsfeld said.
“We expect that the summer’s not going to be a peaceful summer,” said Rumsfeld, noting that 50,000 to 100,000 Iraqi prisoners were turned loose when the war began and mercenary-type fighters are coming into Iraq via Syria.
“It’s tough, and people are being killed, and more people are going to be killed,” said Rumsfeld, speaking on ABC’s “This Week.” “I think it’s going to be some more attacks.”
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rumsfeld said he isn’t sure who is directing the attacks or whether they are taking direct orders from Saddam Hussein, whom the White House so far has been unable to kill or capture.
“I think it’s very clear that it’s coordinated in regions and areas, cities, in the north particularly,” Rumsfeld told NBC.
“There are a lot, thousands of people, Iraqis, who had a very good deal during the Saddam Hussein regime. They were the ones that had all the advantages, and they’ve been thrown out of office,” he added.
Since President Bush declared on May 1 that major combat was over in Iraq, 31 U.S. soldiers have been killed – and scores more have been injured. British troops have also been killed.