Visiting US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stressed on Sunday that the global war against terrorism would be long and that the countries which possess arms of mass destruction need to be deterred.
During a speech to the US servicemen in Camp Doha, Kuwait, Rumsfeld, who arrived in the oil-rich Gulf state earlier in the dayfor a two-day visit, said that after the terror attacks on the United States on September 11 last year, "terrorists declared war on our way of life."
Terrorists waged a war on freedom and "as long as such enemies exist, freedom everywhere is in danger," the U.S. official said.
Rumsfeld stressed that the war against terrorism in Afghanistan was just the beginning and the United States "will not end the war against terrorism until states sponsoring terrorism understand thattheir activities are unacceptable."
In response to a question on what the United States is doing to deter "Iraqi aggression" in the region, Rumsfeld said that militaryoperations in northern and southern Iraq are "containing the situation" on a military level and diplomatic activities also guarantee "an ultimate change in the Iraqi regime."
In addition, economic sanctions against Iraq are also a measure that has been taken to minimize the risk factor posed by Iraq, Rumsfeld added.
Kuwait is the first leg of Rumsfeld's Gulf tour, which will alsotake him to Qatar and Bahrain.
The Unite States has troops in each of the three Gulf countries,including thousands at Camp Doha in Kuwait and the Navy's 5th fleetheadquarters in Bahrain.
(Xinhua News Agency June10, 2002)
