Rumsfeld: Iraq policy changed 3 times

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says U.S. policy in Iraq has changed at least three times but Iraq is increasingly responsible for future progress.

Speaking after meeting with Estonian Minister of Defense Jurgen Ligi, Rumsfeld said a decision on the additional number of Iraqi police and military troops required hadn't been made yet above the previous goal of 325,000.

"We'll have an announcement when they have an announcement. It's their forces, not ours," he said.

"It's been an instructive process that's been going on in an orderly way now, and I think that the proposals that have come in very recently are sensible," Rumsfeld said, adding the ultimate decision was up to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.

Rumsfeld said three major policy shifts had occurred since the March 2003 invasion and said they had been shaped by the various changes in governance beginning with the Coalition Provisional Authority, the governing council, the interim government, the transitional government and finally the permanent government.