Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Saturday he is concerned that the war in Iraq could alienate people in Southeast Asia's Muslim nations, where he will travel next week. Speaking to military leaders at an annual security conference, Rumsfeld said that the ill feelings will not force the U.S. to leave Iraq prematurely and that the world eventually will understand that American troops are not there to take over Iraqi oil fields, as some critics have suggested. "We don't intend to occupy that country for any period of time," Rumsfeld said in response to a question from the audience. "Our troops would like to go home and they will go home.""And they will go home at a pace when we're able, along with our friends and allies with the coalition, of passing off responsibility to the Iraqi security forces, so they can pull up their socks and take responsibility for their own country."
Rumsfeld took aim at Russia and China for allowing Iran's involvement in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a group he said has stated opposition to terrorism and extremists. He said he finds it "passing strange" to bring the "leading terrorist nation in the world into an organization that says it's against terror."