'What We Want To See Is A Democratic Iraq'

Wolfowitz:  Good morning.  I would like to share with you some words that Secretary Rumsfeld addressed earlier thisweek to the Iraqi people, and let me just read directly in the words that the Secretary used himself.

We are at the three week mark since OperationIraqi Freedom began, and the progress of the brave men and women from the United States, from the UnitedKingdom, from Australia, from Poland, who make up the coalition forces has been nothing short of spectacular.

They have liberated cities and towns and theyare now in the Iraqi capital, removing the Iraqi regime from its seat of power.

We are seeing history unfold before our eyes,events that will shape the course of a country, the fate of a people, and, potentially, the future of anentire region.

Saddam Hussein is now taking his rightful placeon the dust bin of history, along with Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Lenin, and Ceaucescu in the pantheon offailed brutal dictators, and the Iraqi people are on their way to freedom.

The General who led our war of liberation herein the United States, our first President, George Washington, once said, "My anxious recollection, mysympathetic feeling, and my best wishes are irresistibly excited whenever, in any country, I see an oppressednation unfurl the banners of freedom".

As we watch Iraqis unfurl the banners of freedomtoday, all Americans share in their joy and celebrate with them.

To those Iraqi people who are not yet free, letme assure you, you will be free.  I have seen President Bush almost every day since this conflict began,and I can assure you that he, like the American people, is committed to your freedom, to your future, and toseeing this effort through.

We will not stop until Saddam Hussein's regimehas been removed from every corner of your country.

Much work remains, but this we can say withcertainty:  The tide has turned.  The regime has been dealt a serious and fatal blow, but coalitionforces will not stop until they have finished the job, Saddam Hussein is removed, and the entire Iraqi peopleare liberated.

Finally, let me say this.  There are manyreporters embedded with coalition forces in your country. They are interested and willing to listen.

This is your opportunity, your chance to tellthem your stories so that history can properly record the viciousness, the brutality of Saddam Hussein'sregime, and so that we can make sure that history is not repeated.

To the free reporters and journalists in Iraq,this is your chance to listen and report.  It is a historic opportunity.

Can you assess the status of the [Iraqi]regime today?

Wolfowitz: Clearly, it's on the ropes.  Clearly, they are not functioning in a coherent way, but it is a viciousgroup of people and even in small pockets, they can do serious damage.

So we have to keep our guard up.  We haveto recognize there are still large parts of the country that are not yet liberated.  There is still a lotof damage that these people can do.

But I think what is absolutely clear is that theIraqi people have already pronounced their verdict on this regime and if there was any doubt before todayabout how the Iraqi people feel about this war, it's clear now that this was a war of liberation.

It was a war for the Iraqi people, not againstthe Iraqi people, and it's a war that has ended Saddam's war against the Iraq people.

Was it part of the military plan to leaveTikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, to the end?

Wolfowitz:  I'm not sure.  I'm not going to talk about what is still left.  Tikrit is a problem.  Mosul andKirkuk are still problems.  There are pockets even in the south that are still problems.

But we are working with operational realities,obviously.  Most of our forces have come in from the south, and that's the operational reality.

Do you have an immediate plan to stopdisorder and looting in the areas that are under the control of the coalition forces?

Wolfowitz:   Well, a certain amount of that, what is called looting, is actually, I think, taking it out on the statues ofSaddam Hussein and on the government offices.  We hope people wouldn't walk away with the kinds ofdocuments that are important to find the war criminals and to track down the evidence of the things that theyhave done.

And people are in a celebratory mood in Baghdadand elsewhere in the country, but I hope that in time and, hopefully, in a short amount of time, that Iraqiswill understand the importance for their own future of demonstrating that they can control themselves withouta brutal dictator and that mechanisms of self-control will come into play.

Look, we had an experience in northern Iraq 12years ago -- it was pretty successful -- where Iraqis took over their own affairs and within a few months ofthe coalition forces coming in, we were gone.  And Iraqis, except for Saddam's occasional invasions,handled themselves pretty well.

Why Jay Garner is still in Kuwait and notalready in Iraq? What can we do to speed up the establishment of a transitional authority?

Wolfowitz:  Well, Garner's operation has focused, most importantly, on getting the basic functions of governmentoperating, and I think we're still in a -- we're still fighting a war.  Let's be clear.  It isn'tover yet and we're not focused yet on peacetime administration.  But Jay Garner is working very hard atgetting his people ready so that they can come in and do things.

Do we have any veto on the Iraqi oppositiongroups that are based in Iran?

Wolfowitz:  I think we've talked over and over again that what we want to see is a democratic Iraq.  And I think ifwe mean it -- and we do mean it -- then that means the Iraqi people have got to decide who their leaders aregoing to be and who their political parties are going to be.

I do think we have something very strong to say,though, about anyone who is going to try to reintroduce violence as the way of deciding things in Iraqipolitics.  We want things decided in democratic ways, by debate and dialogue and elections, not bybullets and militias and torture chambers.

I think that's gone, hopefully forever.