By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 53 minutes ago
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Friday the United States must not pull out of Iraq until it has stabilized, while U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld defended the training and conduct of U.S. troops amid an investigation into the massacre of Iraqi civilians.
"If the U.S. leaves Iraq under conditions that can be portrayed as defeat, its enemies everywhere will be emboldened, and we will all be at greater risk," Lee said.
"There is no choice but for the U.S. and its coalition partners to stay the course and complete the work in Iraq," he said in a speech at the opening of a three-day meeting in Singapore of defense and security officials from 23 countries.
Rumsfeld is also attending the conference in the city-state that is a staunch U.S. ally, and said most U.S. troops were well trained and acted according to proper rules of conduct.
"We know that 99.9 percent of our forces conduct themselves in an exemplary manner. We also know that in conflicts things that shouldn't happen, do happen," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue.
The military is conducting two investigations into the alleged murder of about two dozen Iraqi citizens by U.S. Marines in Haditha, an insurgent stronghold in western Iraq. One is a criminal probe into the actual events that day last November, and the other is looking into whether soldiers told the truth about what happened or if there was a cover-up.
While Rumsfeld said he cannot comment on the investigation because it could taint the case, he said, "We don't expect U.S. soldiers to act that way, and they're trained not to."
Rumsfeld's attendance at the annual defense forum comes barely a week after the Pentagon issued a report saying China is rapidly extending its military reach through purchases of advanced weaponry and refined tactics.
China's rise is widely seen as a challenge to U.S. military supremacy in Asia, underscoring Beijing's longtime rivalry with Japan, conflicting claims over islands in the South China Sea, and control over Taiwan, the self-governing island that China calls part of its territory but which Washington is legally bound to help defend.
Rumsfeld is due to address the forum on Saturday. Other keynote speakers include Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Japanese Defense Minister Fukushiro Nukaga and Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono. China's highest ranking participant is a deputy chief of the Foreign Ministry's Asian section.
Despite that low-level representation, conference organizer Tim Huxley said China's growing influence will be a major issue before the forum.
"China's rising power, confidence and assertiveness have implications beyond this region," said Huxley, senior fellow for Asia-Pacific security at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Concerns over China's military rise are accented by a 14 percent increase in Beijing's declared defense spending this year to $35.3 billion.
Outside estimates of China's true spending are up to three times that amount, based on the country's heavy purchases of submarines, missiles, fighter planes and other high-tech weapons, mainly from Russia.
At last year's gathering, Rumsfeld questioned the reasons behind China's annual double-digit increases in defense spending, saying those implied Beijing was prepared to act on its threats to attack Taiwan if it continues to refuse unification.
In the year since, the sides have taken tentative steps to lessen uncertainty on either side — including a first-ever visit by Rumsfeld to China as defense secretary — though critics say real trust has yet to be established.
Speaking en route to Singapore, a senior U.S. defense official said Rumsfeld would not dwell on lingering questions about China's military growth in his address Saturday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the speech was not public yet, said instead Rumsfeld would speak more broadly about the need for the countries to work together.