Rumsfeld Bids Farewell to Troops in Iraq

In this image released by the US Department of Defense, outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meets troops at Al-Assad air base in Iraq's volatile Anbar province Saturday Dec. 9, 2006, during a surprise visit to Iraq. Rumsfeld's trip follows an emotional farewell Friday at the Pentagon in Washington, where the defense secretary defended his record on Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/DoD, Cherie A. Thurlby) (Cherie A. Thurlby - AP)

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, with only days left in office, paid a surprise farewell visit to U.S. troops in Iraq this weekend, telling them the consequences of the war's failure would be "unacceptable."

The trip came as war policies he helped create are under scrutiny and as sectarian violence raged on the streets of Baghdad, with a fresh outburst of retaliatory attacks and clashes between Shiites and Sunnis.

Rumsfeld, casually dressed in a gray jacket and an open-collar shirt, traveled to several different U.S. bases in the country, shaking hands and joking with troops.

"For the past six years, I have had the opportunity and, I would say, the privilege, to serve with the greatest military on the face of the Earth," Rumsfeld, 74, said. He was speaking to more than 1,200 soldiers and Marines at al-Asad, a sprawling air base in western Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to discuss Rumsfeld's itinerary or schedule, other than to say he was traveling around Iraq on Sunday as well.

"He wants to keep the focus on the troops" and has not scheduled official meetings with U.S. commanders, although he is seeing them during his stops, Whitman said.

His visit came just days after a U.S. bipartisan commission said President Bush's policy in Iraq "is not working," and called for urgent policies to shift the focus to training Iraqis troops and withdrawing most U.S. combat troops by 2008.

Iraq President Jalal Talabani denounced the report on Sunday, saying it offered dangerous recommendations that would undermine his country's sovereignty and were "an insult to the people of Iraq."

The Kurdish leader was the most senior government official to take a stand against the Iraq Study Group report, which has also come under criticism from leaders of the governing Shiite and Kurdish parties.

He said the report "is not fair, is not just, and it contains some very dangerous articles which undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and the constitution."

He singled out the report's call for the approval of a de-Baathification law that could allow thousands of officials from Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath party to return to their jobs.

Talabani said the Iraqi government planned to send a letter to Bush "expressing our views about the main issues" in the report. He would not elaborate.