Rumsfeld admits attacks may worsen

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned today that attacks on American troops in Iraq may worsen this summer but he insisted that occupation forces were making progress.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to expect this to go on and there’s even speculation that during the month of July, which is an anniversary for a lot of Baathists events, we could see an increase in the number of attacks,” Rumsfeld said on the NBC television programme “Meet the Press.”

Even though major fighting has ended, Rumsfeld cautioned ”we’re still in a war.” He also said American forces – now totalling about 150,000 – will likely remain in Iraq for the “foreseeable future.”

“There’s still a lot people from the Baathist and Fedayeen Saddam regime types who are there, who are disadvantaged by the fact that their regime has been thrown out and would like to get back, but they’re not going to succeed,” he said.

As for whether the resistance is organised throughout the country, Rumsfeld said there’s still a lot of debate in the intelligence community about that.

However, “it’s very clear that it’s coordinated in regions and areas, cities in the north particularly”, he said.

Since President George W Bush declared on May 1 that major combat was over, 31 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq and scores have been wounded in hit-and-run attacks.

Still, the defence secretary insisted that progress was being made on the ground with Iraqis signing up for the army and police forces, and schools and hospitals reopening.

But, he said, the “more progress we make, I’m afraid, the more vicious the attacks will become” on American and coalition forces.

In a separate appearance on ABC television’s “This Week,” Rumsfeld disputed claims from some congressional Democrats that the administration has understated the cost of the war and occupation of Iraq.

“We have said we don’t know what it will cost we have said it’s not knowable how long it will last,” he said.