CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq, Dec 24 (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged "setbacks" in Iraq during a visit with US marines Friday at their main base outside Fallujah, where the military ousted insurgents last month in some of the bloodiest fighting since the Iraq invasion.
"All along the way, it is bumpy and it's tough... It is not a smooth, easy path to success, there are setbacks," Rumsfeld told a gathering of troops.
"But you will look back when you are about my age and you will be proud."
Rumsfeld first stopped at the base's combat hospital, where he visited wounded troops, posed for pictures and handed out bronze Pentagon coins.
He then headed to lunch where he dined with the top marine officers in Fallujah, Lieutenant General John Sattler and Major General David Natonski, and addressed the troops about the state of affairs in Iraq.
Also there for the occasion, Lieutenant General Thomas Metz, the military's second-in-command in Iraq, acknowledged the harsh fight US forces now faced, calling it "an endurance thing."
"We get tired, but we are a lot tougher than he (the enemy) thinks we are."
Rumsfeld arrived at Camp Fallujah as part of a surprise tour of Iraq to boost US troops' morale on Christmas Eve.
The defense secretary arrived at dawn in the northern city of Mosul, where a suicide attack Tuesday on a US army base that killed 22 people.
Rumsfeld told troops in Mosul although the situation looked "bleak" right now for US forces in the country, they would ultimately prevail over insurgents and be part of something "truly historic".
Rumsfeld also traveled to Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
The secrecy imposed by the Pentagon on the visit was similar only to that surrounding President George W. Bush's surprise Thanksgiving 2003 visit to troops in Iraq.
In the last month, Rumsfeld had come under severe pressure after revelations that a machine wrote his signature on condolence letters to relatives of troops killed in Iraq.
And his laid-back reaction to the soldier in Kuwait who complained of not having sufficient armour to go into combat also aroused controversy.
12/24/2004 10:41 GMT - AFP