Print This Page Email This Page See Most Sent

• Are Iraqis' Guerrilla Tactics Understandable? • Change Is Slowly Coming For These Women • How to Cope with Workplace Stress

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Friday characterized widespread looting in Iraq as a period of "untidiness" and suggested it was only a transitional phase on the way to freedom from Saddam Hussein's rule.

"We do feel an obligation to assist in providing security, and coalition forces are doing that," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference. "Where they see looting, they are stopping it."

"While no one condones looting, on the other hand, one can understand the pent-up feelings that may result from decades of repression," he said.

"If you go from a repressive regime...in that transition period, there is untidiness," the secretary said.

photo credit and caption:

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, left, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, right, leave the White House, Thursday, April 10, 2003, after briefing President Bush on the current situation in Iraq. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.