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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 31, 2003

US Denies Any 'Pauses' in Iraq War

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied Sunday that there is any "pauses" in the Iraq war but he cautioned that the toughest fight may be ahead.


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US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied Sunday that there is any "pauses" in the Iraq war but he cautioned that the toughest fight may be ahead.

"We have no plans for pauses or cease-fires or anything else," Rumsfeld said in an interview with ABC television network.

The secretary was responding to agencies reports that some US officials in the battleground said there was going to be a pause in the military campaign against Baghdad.

"No matter where you are, you're always going to hear somebody saying something, and I'm sure they're saying something they believe," he said.

He said he had just talked to US generals in the Gulf and thereare no plans for pauses or cease-fires.

He admitted that the British troops will be engaged in the southern Iraqi city of Basra for a period. "Is that a pause? I don't think so," he said.

The US defense secretary warned that the US-led coalition may face the most difficult fighting ahead as the allied troops continue to push toward Baghdad and engage with Iraq's elite Republican Guard.

"There may be some very tough days ahead, because as we move forward and have to deal with the Republican Guard, that very likely will be the most difficult fighting days that the coalitionwill face," he said.

Appearing on NBC's "Face the Nation" program on Sunday, RichardMyers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also predicted the toughest part of the war is still ahead.

"I think the toughest part is ahead of us as we take on the Republican Guard around Baghdad," Myers said.

The general rejected criticism of the Pentagon's war strategy, saying that US war planners had always prepared for a potentially lengthy war in Iraq. "Nobody ever promised a short war," he said.


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