Rumsfeld to Talk Iraq on Persian Gulf Tour

June 4, 2002

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld won't be rallying Persian Gulf nations for a planned attack on Iraq when he visits that part of the world this month, but he will be visiting Pakistan and India to help ease tensions there, a Defense Department official said Monday.

Although the sequence of events has yet to be announced, the secretary will make stops in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, where the U.S. has troops in each of the three Gulf countries. Another Middle Eastern country housing American troops, Saudi Arabia, has been left off the itinerary, but officials said there was no political or diplomatic slight intended.

Sources were also adamant that the secretary would not be shopping for allies for any future action against Iraq, but Rumsfeld will certainly talk about Iraq's growing nuclear ambitions.

"We're not at the stage where we're going around soliciting allies for something like that," said the official, who discussed aspects of Rumsfeld's trip on condition that he not be identified.

The popular Pentagon chief will be headed to another pressure cooker area of the globe when he drops into New Delhi, India, and Islamabad, Pakistan, most likely to call for diplomatic resolution of the escalated tensions there. Whether the Pakistan and India visits are before or after the Gulf tour is still open, one official said.

Rumsfeld will follow Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who also plans a diplomatic mission to both countries. A recent Defense Intelligence Agency study concluded that a nuclear exchange between the two could result in the deaths of 12 million people, with another 2 million to 6 million injured.

Rumsfeld will begin his trip in Europe on Wednesday with a visit first to Britain to meet with Defense Minister Geoffrey Hoon. He then flies to Brussels, Belgium, for meetings at NATO headquarters on Thursday and Friday, including the first meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, which was created last month to include former foe Russia as a limited partner in the Western alliance.

To that end, the secretary will hold a one-on-one session with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.

The NATO meeting is intended, in part, to set the stage for a summit meeting of alliance leaders in November in Prague, where as many as nine European countries may be invited to become NATO members.

After a stop at Geilenkirchen Air Base in Germany to thank NATO airborne warning aircraft crews and commanders for their help in patrolling U.S. skies in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, Rumsfeld will fly to Estonia for a meeting with defense ministers from the Baltic and Nordic nations.

After that the secretary's schedule has yet to be announced, according to officials who are interested in protecting security details, but he will indeed move on to the Persian Gulf.

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