Iraqis can expect a faster transfer of power, but US troops will stay until they have defeated insurgents, the US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said on Friday. ‘‘There is no decision to pull out early. Indeed quite the contrary,’’ Rumsfeld said, while US forces launched new ‘‘Iron Hammer’’ strikes on guerrilla targets around Baghdad. ‘‘We will stay as long as necessary,’’ he told troops in the Pacific. Rumsfeld said the initial plan was for a transfer of sovereignty after a new Iraqi constitution was ratified and elections held but the administration was considering ways to transfer some responsibility sooner. US officials have not spelled out how this will be done, saying Iraq administrator Paul Bremer will discuss details with the Governing Council. ‘‘An immediate priority will be meeting the Governing Council,’’ said Bremer’s spokesman Dan Senor. The Council is scheduled to meet on Saturday, but it was not clear if Bremer would attend. Meanwhile, heavy gunfire and explosions echoed across Baghdad at night as US forces pursued Operation Iron Hammer. US forces destroyed a former Republican Guard building they said resistance fighters used to launch attacks and struck more suspected mortar and rocket-launch sites. Troops also rounded up Iraqi suspects, including six thought to be behind the downing of two US choppers, in raids around Tikrit and Mosul. Japan, which deferred the despatch of troops to Iraq after the bombing of the Italian base, said on Friday it would now send a fact-finding mission to check on security. (Reuters)
