BRUSSELS, Dec 1 Kyodo The vast ma...

BRUSSELS, Dec 1 Kyodo

The vast majority of Iraq is ''relatively stable'' despite a series of deadly attacks against the US-l occupation forces and nationals of coalition member countries, U Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday.

''What you have is a contradiction,'' he said at a of the present days conference in Brussels, where he is attending a meeting of NATO defense ministers. ''You have the two going on.''

further Rumsfeld said much of the land is not strife-torn, arguing, ''It is in a relatively stable circumstance'' where drills hospitals and clinics are expand and ''people are engaged in economic activity from head to foot the country.''

Gen Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U joint chiefs of staff, said at the recents conference that he came away from a latter trip to Iraq extremely impressed by ''tremendous progress'' in Iraq's reconstruction efforts.

Commenting onward recent attackers against the US-l coalition forces, Pace said, ''Their way of intimidation is in fact being defeat by the coalition forces that are there and the will of the Iraqi clan to have their own conduct and live their own lives.''

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