ABOARD THE USS JOHN F KENNEDY, Oct 9 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gathered 18 coalition defense ministers on this aircraft carrier in the Gulf Saturday to discuss strategy in Iraq and reassure them that progress is being made against insurgents.
In the cramped "war room" of the Kennedy, the ministers heard General George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, in a video teleconference from Baghdad lay out his plan for retaking control of Iraq's violence-torn provinces.
"Casey gave a brief on the the state of play in Iraq, the way forward and where we are," said Larry DiRita, a Pentagon spokesman who attended most of the briefing.
The general told the ministers that 145,000 Iraqi security forces will be "fully manned, trained and equipped" before the elections, said another senior defense official who also attended.
According to that official, Casey said the violence now centered on four of Iraq's 18 provinces, including Baghdad and Al-Anbar, a province west of Baghdad where insugents have gained control over a number of towns and cities.
In the other 14 provinces, attacks have subsided to four a day, the official cited Casey as saying.
The New York Times reported this week that Casey's plan identifies 20 to 30 towns as controlled by insurgents or vulnerable, and establishes metrics to judge when force should be used to bring them under the government's control.
The crash and roar of fighter jets taking off and landing resounded through the carrier as Rumsfeld and his guests talked and toured the ship. Rumsfeld at one point barked prepared instructions to the flight crew from ship's control tower.
Warplanes from the USS John F. Kennedy have been flying some 60 sorties a day, including about 20 over Iraq and another 30 in support of US military operations in Afghanistan.
In missions over Iraq, 18 of the 20 warplanes are carrying bombs, he said.
"We're only doing strikes where it is absolutely necessary, and we're taking a lot more care and a lot more precautions than ever before to make sure we are doing it with precision," said Captain Mark Guadagnini, the commander of the carrier air group.
"Some of the things we're able to do now -- taking out a small building or specific people in the city, is not something we have been able to do prior to this because we have the technology and training now to do that," he said.
He said air strikes were being kept to a minimum as part of the pacification strategy, but he added that that the carrier air group could step up the pace of operations if necessary.
Rumsfeld noted in opening the meeting that elections were being held that same day in Afghanistan.
"Through this entire process there have been people who said this could not happen," he said. "There are always naysayers, and doomsayers, and people who are faint of heart."
"But people who have been determined and steadfast have been proved correct," he said.
The meeting, which was not publicly announced beforehand, offered the administration the opportunity to dramatize that it is not alone in Iraq, while at the same time reassuring allies that face rising political pressure at home to bring their troops home.
Democratic challenger John Kerry has been attacking President George W. Bush relentlessly for going to war in Iraq without broad international backing.
The meeting mainly drew ministers from new NATO member countries from eastern and central Europe and former Soviet republics that have contributed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iraq was represented by its defense minister, Hazim al-Shalaan. Bahrain and Qatar, two major US allies in the region, also sent top officials.
DiRita said the defense ministers were not asked to contribute more troops, but on the flight to Bahrain from Washington Rumsfeld acknowledged that more troops were needed to protect the UN mission to organize the vote.
Whether the United States sends more troops to Iraq, as it has for elections in Afghanistan, "is up to General (John) Abizaid and General Casey," Rumsfeld said referring to the top US commanders in charge of Iraq.
"To the extent that's appropriate and needed, obviously that makes sense," he said. "To the extent other countries come in and take some of that responsibility, then that might not be necessary."