Rumsfeld sets out 'principles' to lead Iraq to democracy

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Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday set out 13 U.S. principles for turning Iraq from a Ba'athist tyranny into a free-market democracy.

With the American occupation in a bumpy second month, the defense secretary also sent a clear warning to Iran's Islamist regime, saying the military coalition will stamp out any sign of a Tehran-style theocracy taking hold in Baghdad.

"Iran should be on notice that efforts to try to remake Iraq in Iran's image will be aggressively put down," Mr. Rumsfeld said in a major policy speech before members of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Iran, one of President Bush's "axis of evil" states, has sent agents into Iraq to stir up Iraqi Shi'ite resentment in the south against the American occupiers. Tehran is also a U.S.-designated sponsor of terrorism and is suspected of supporting al Qaeda's deadly May 12 bombings in Riyadh.

Mr. Rumsfeld seemed to be preparing the American public for a long military stay in Iraq. Instead of playing down lawlessness and looting, as he did after Baghdad fell April 9, he acknowledged that the disorder is problematic but not unexpected.

"The transition to democracy will take time," he told the influential group of government and business leaders. "It will not be a smooth road."

He said one of the Bush administration's 13 principles is that "the coalition will maintain as many security forces in Iraq as is necessary and will keep them there for as long as is necessary."

There are about 150,000 American ground forces in Iraq, with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad, the 4th Infantry Division in northern Iraq and 40,000 Marines in the south. The Marines are leaving in stages and should be out of the Persian Gulf region by August. Meanwhile, the 1st Armored Division in Germany is moving units into Iraq as extra military police arrive.

Mr. Rumsfeld said some Iraqi soldiers who quit the battlefield rather than fight are engaged in guerrilla attacks on American soldiers. "Many of the regime's enforcers are still at large," he said.