Reuters
**WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld argued on Tuesday that the guerrillas fighting U.S.-led foreign forces and the American-backed government in Iraq do not deserve to be called an "insurgency."
Asked at a Pentagon news conference why he did not think the word insurgency applied to enemy forces in Iraq, Rumsfeld said he had "an epiphany."
"I've thought about it. And, over the weekend, I thought to myself, you know, that gives them a greater legitimacy than they seem to merit," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld instead referred to the guerrillas in Iraq as "the terrorists" and "the enemies of the government." U.S. military statements also have referred to insurgents as "anti-Iraqi forces."
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines an insurgent as "a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government."
It is not the first time Rumsfeld has quibbled with words describing the enemy in Iraq. In June 2003, for example, Rumsfeld said the conflict was not a "guerrilla war," only to have his top commander in the region two weeks later call it "a classical guerrilla-type campaign."
"I think that you can have a legitimate insurgency in a country that has popular support and has a cohesiveness and has a legitimate gripe. These people don't have a legitimate gripe," Rumsfeld said.
"They've got a peaceful way to change that government -- through the constitution, through the elections. These people aren't trying to promote something other than disorder and to take over that country and turn it into a caliphate and then spread it around the world."
'I'M NOT TRAINABLE'
During the briefing, the top U.S. military officer, Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, slipped up twice and said "insurgent." With Rumsfeld standing at his side, Pace told reporters, "I have to use the word 'insurgent' because I can't think of a better word right now."
"'Enemies of the legitimate Iraqi government' -- how's that?" Rumsfeld told Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Moments later, Pace again referred to "the insurgents," then told his boss, "Sorry, sir. I'm not trainable today."
Rumsfeld and reporters previously have sparred over the dictionary definition of words such as "quagmire" and "slog."
Rumsfeld described the enemy in Iraq as a mixture of "foreign terrorists," Saddam loyalists, Sunni Arab "rejectionists," criminals, and "people that do it for money."
U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 and deposed President Saddam Hussein, but since then guerrilla forces have engaged in a bloody war for 2-1/2 years. More than 2,100 U.S. troops have died and nearly 16,000 more have been wounded in action.