Pentagon chief confronted by war critics during speech
www.chinaview.cn 2006-05-05 05:01:20
WASHINGTON, May 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was confronted by war critics as he gave a speech Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia.
Rumsfeld was interrupted twice during the speech, which was delivered at the Atlanta History Center, according to CNN.
A number of protesters showed up, holding up banners saying "guilty of war crimes."
One female protester was taken out of the room by guards after shouting at Rumsfeld: "this man needs to be in prison for war crimes!"
But the Pentagon chief kept his smile, then agreed to take a question from a male protester.
"I would like to ask you to be up front with the American people, why did you lie to get us into a war that was not necessary, that has caused these kinds of casualties? Why?" asked the man.
Rumsfeld said he did not lie, because he is not "in the intelligence business."
However, he acknowledged that "it appears that there were not weapons of mass destruction there."
Iraq's secret program of weapons of mass destruction is a major justification for the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq three years ago.
However, such evidence has never been found and some 2,400 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the start of the war. Enditem