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| Europe |
| Romanian president says Iraq war 'moral' |
| 2004-10-12 |
| President Ion Iliescu said Tuesday the war against Iraq was "moral and legitimate" after meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is in the country to attend a meeting of NATO defense ministers. "Being a country that for half a century was under a totalitarian regime (we consider) the intervention in Iraq was moral and legitimate," Iliescu told reporters. The Romanian president also said his government condemned "the barbaric practice of taking hostages. It is a dangerous development that cannot be justified." Romania has more than 700 troops serving in Iraq and has not suffered any casualties among the troops. Rumsfeld, who said he last visited Romania in 1971, praised the changes, saying Romania had a "vibrant democratic society and robust economy," noting that Romania had joined NATO earlier this year. Romania threw off communism in 1989. Rumsfeld said the U.S. valued the "stalwart support" offered by Romania in fighting terrorism. Rumsfeld arrived on Monday in the Black Sea port of Constanta, where he visited a base used by as many as 3,500 U.S. troops, who were stationed here in February and March 2003 to prepare for the start of the war in Iraq. U.S. Army paratroopers based in Italy used Constanta as a staging base for their airlift into northern Iraq in the opening days of the war. It also was used as an air transport hub by the U.S. Air Force during the Afghanistan war. No U.S. troops are based here now. Rumsfeld will attend a meeting of NATO defense ministers on Wednesday and Thursday where the role of the alliance in Iraq and Afghanistan will be discussed. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
#1 Being a country that for half a century was under a totalitarian regimeRomania would sure as hell know about that. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-10-12 7:36:26 PM |