Rumsfeld denies talks

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld denied on Tuesday that the United States is negotiating an end to war with Iraq. \n"The only thing the coalition will discuss with this regime is their unconditional surrender," he said.\nRumsfeld said Saddam Hussein's government had been planting rumors that U.S. officials were talking to Iraqi leaders, with the goal of convincing Iraqi citizens that "the coalition does not intend to finish the job."\nSpeaking directly to the Iraqi public, Rumsfeld denied such rumors and accused Saddam's government of lying.\n"There are no negotiations taking place," Rumsfeld said. "There is no outcome to this war that will leave Saddam Hussein and his regime in power."\nGen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said serious combat is already under way against Iraqi forces, and there will be "bigger pushes that will be under way as soon as we're ready." But he gave no indication of the timing of an assault on Baghdad.\nRumsfeld said U.S. and British forces are positioned around the Iraqi capital from the north, south and west. \n"The circle is closing," he said.\nThe defense secretary said Iraqi Republican Guard units "have been taking a pounding" for several days.\n "They're being attacked from the air, they're pressured from the ground, and in good time they won't be there," Rumsfeld said.\nMyers launched a spirited defense of the U.S. military strategy being used in Iraq, which has been criticized for underestimating the extent of Iraqi resistance and sending in too few ground troops. Myers said military critics of the plan are "not being responsible members of the team that put this all together. … It is not helpful to have those comments."\n"This subject is not useful," Myers continued. "It's not good for our troops, and it's not accurate."\nHe said that Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the forces in Iraq, has received everything he sought in terms of resources and manpower.\nU.S. military officials have said that American forces have enough bombs and missiles for the Iraq war, despite an intensifying air campaign. U.S.-led forces launched missiles early Tuesday toward Baghdad and the holy Shiite Muslim city of Karbala to the southwest. Among the targets, U.S. officials said, was a complex that serves as the office of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee, where Iraqi dissidents say Saddam's son Odai runs a torture center.\nU.S. warplanes used more than 3,000 precision-guided bombs on Iraqi targets over the weekend, compared to about 5,000 in the previous week, said Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said coalition forces had fired more than 700 Tomahawk cruise missiles.\nAir Force Secretary James Roche said Tuesday there was no reason for concern about running low on the precision-guided bomb he called the "weapon of choice" in this war, the satellite-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition launched by Air Force and Navy planes.\n"We don't see a problem there," Roche said in an interview with a group of reporters.\nThe United States can switch to other munitions if it runs low on the $600,000 Tomahawks, said Marine Col. Tom Bright of U.S. Central Command.\nThe Pentagon, meanwhile, announced that the number of American troops killed in the war so far has risen to 46, up three from Monday. Of the total, 38 are categorized as hostile deaths and eight as non-hostile. The non-hostile category includes troops who died in accidents, for example. Sixteen service members are listed as "duty status whereabouts unknown" -- a status similar to missing in action -- and seven are prisoners of war.\nThe U.S.-led air assault has severely damaged the Republican Guard units defending Baghdad, military officials said Monday. They include the Medina, Hammurabi and Baghdad divisions south of the capital and units of the Nebuchadnezzar division, which is normally stationed far north of Baghdad, which have moved south as reinforcements.\nAs fighting south of the Iraqi capital continued Monday, U.S. troops killed at least seven Iraqi women and children at a checkpoint when the driver of a van they were riding in failed to stop as ordered, Central Command said. An American reporter with the Army unit involved said 10 were killed, including five preschool-age children.\nThe U.S. military is investigating the incident.\nMaj. Gen. Buford Blount, commander of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, said his soldiers fired several warning shots at the vehicle and "it continued to come." An Iraqi soldier in civilian clothing killed four soldiers from the same 3rd Infantry Division at a nearby checkpoint with a car bomb on Saturday.