Washington: The top US General has congratulated the military on a "tremendous
combat victory" in Iraq, becoming the first top US military or administration
official to declare victory.
At a muted in-house Pentagon celebration of the fall of the Iraqi regime, General
Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on April 17, "Your
courage, your talent, your leadership have given us up to this point a tremendous
combat victory."
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has gone to lengths to avoid declaring the
war over, also congratulated the audience of military officials and civilian Defence
employees on an "enormous accomplishment".
They accompanied their praise with reminders of remaining pockets of resistance and
unfinished work ahead in getting Iraq back on its feet.
"There are some who don't welcome our success," Myers warned, adding "they'll now
come after us in the most immoral and underhanded manner possible."
"In short, we've got to keep our guard up," he said.
Rumsfeld recalled with relish that the US-led campaign had come under fire from
retired military officers and other analysts.
"People were saying that the plan was terrible and there weren't enough people, and
they were going to be tens of thousands of casualties, and it was going to take
forever," he said.
"Those folks that were saying that on television, the retired military officers, as
well as civilians, are kind of not up today," he said.
