Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed the Pentagon press corps on March 14. Following are highlights of their remarks.

• The Iraqi people are at a crossroads now, choosing between a path toward civil war and one toward freedom and prosperity.
• Iraqis have looked down the path toward civil war and are rejecting it.
• Most of Iraq’s elected and religious leaders are calling for calm and unity.
• The Iraqi military has been loyal to the central government.

• The vast majority of Iraqis are supporting the Coalition’s efforts in Iraq.
• With each subsequent election in Iraq, Iraqis have turned out to vote in increasing numbers, including Sunnis.
• The terrorists tried and failed to stop the elections for the Transitional National Assembly in January 2005, the constitutional referendum in October 2005, and elections for a permanent government in December 2005.

• Iraqis continue to volunteer to defend their nation, despite attacks against the security forces.
• These security forces are increasingly taking on more responsibility: There are some 100 Iraqi battalions in the fight against the terrorists; about 75 percent of operations involve Iraqi Security Forces and nearly half of those are independently Iraqi planned, conducted and led.
• Beyond training and equipping the Iraqi Security Forces, we are training the trainers and also the enablers – those entities beyond the basic numbers of policy and army, such combat support and intelligence, helping to bring more forces and capability on line. 

• The Coalition effort in Iraq is contributing to U.S. security.
• A free and stable Iraq will not go to war against its neighbors; use chemical weapons against its own people; harbor or support terrorists; pay families of suicide bombers or seek to kill Americans.

• We must understand as a nation that it takes decades for terrorist organizations to be defeated or to lose their ideology.
• Even if we left Iraq tomorrow, we would still have a long way ahead to defeat terrorism around the world.
• We are going to need forces forward deployed around the world to respond to the terrorist threats to our country.

• Amidst the violence in Iraq there is a string of victories:
• For those who want a single country;
• For those who want a representative system;
•  For those who want a constitutional government and for those who are trying to form a new government.

Link: briefing transcript