I wasn't consulted on new efforts on Iraq: Rumsfeld
Thursday, October 9 2003 10:46 Hrs (IST)
Washington: United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said he was not consulted by
President George W Bush for the creation of the Condoleeza Rice-led National Security Council to
oversee reconstruction efforts in Iraq, but insisted, "it is not a problem".
Rumsfeld, speaking to reporters on October 8 in Colorado Springs, ahead of a Non-Alignment Treaty
Organisation (NATO) Defence Ministers' meeting, said the Pentagon had received a one-page
memorandum on October 3 that the National Security Council (NSC) headed by Rice, the National
Security Adviser, would "do inter-agency coordination" of efforts in Iraq.
"I wouldn't know how to comment on it," he said, adding bitingly. "I don't remember it being discussed."
Rumsfeld, who supervises the work of the administration led by L Paul Bremer and the US military
commanders in Iraq, however, insisted "it is not a problem or an issue".
"It need not have been," he said when asked whether the consultations on creating the NSC ought to
have included him.
PTI
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