SINGAPORE, May 31 (UPI) -- U.S Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz warned the United States is still facing challenges in Iraq in the security area, pointing that in the last 24 hours alone six hostile attacks had been committed on U.S forces there.
"Security in Iraq remains our number one priority and this is where we have a lot of work to do," he told a security conference organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Wolfowitz pointed to the "vast difference" between "normal peace-keeping" operations like that had taken place in Kosovo and Bosnia, and the situation the U.S. faces in Iraq.
He said the attack on U.S. forces were not the work of ordinary criminals, but "surviving elements of the old regime."
Iraqi guerrilla attacks on US forces have increased over the last week, claiming the lives of several American soldiers.
Dealing with the security issue in Iraq will require "considerable efforts," but there was no
discussion about who would win, he added.
