Saddam uncertainty 'fuelling resistance'

By Nick Childs
BBC Pentagon correspondent, in Lisbon

The failure to account for Saddam Hussein may be encouraging some of the continuing resistance in Iraq, the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has said.

Mr Rumsfeld said the lack of information about the former Iraqi president "might give heart" to members of the Baath party who still hoped to take back the country.

Rumsfeld: US will find Saddam Hussein

His remarks come a day after the latest attack on US forces, in which a soldier was killed close to the Syrian border.

Speaking on his way to Portugal at the start of a European tour that will include a Nato defence ministers' meeting, Mr Rumsfeld also said he was hopeful there would be a sizeable foreign contribution to peacekeeping forces in Iraq.

He said no-one thought the attacks on US forces were part of a well-organised, nationally directed campaign, but in some parts of the country there might be "an element of organisation".

Mr Rumsfeld again defended US intelligence on Iraq before the war.

He said it "will end up proving to be correct". And he insisted that any allegation that the intelligence was politicised was false.

The defence secretary said he was hopeful about getting a sizeable set of foreign forces in Iraq to help with peacekeeping, with the first ones likely to arrive in September.

The US was in various types of discussions with 41 countries, he said.

Mr Rumsfeld is on the first leg of a tour of Europe, which is still smarting from its divisions over Iraq.

He will be thanking Portugal and Albania for their support before travelling to Germany, an opponent of US policy.

He will then head to Belgium for the Nato meeting, to discuss changes to forces and command structures in the alliance.

The meeting comes at a time when the US is studying significant changes to its presence in Europe as part of a worldwide military reorganisation - perhaps scaling back traditional bases in Germany and using more facilities in former Soviet bloc countries.