Rumsfeld: Iraq extension shouldn't anger soldiers

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Saturday praised the work of an Army brigade whose one-year tour in Iraq was extended just as they prepared to return home, and said he saw no reason for the soldiers or their families to be angry at him. "I don't put it in that context," he said. "These people are all volunteers. They all signed up. They all are there doing what they're doing because they want to do it. They're proud of what they do. They do it very, very well." The Pentagon chief was meeting privately later Saturday with 172nd Stryker Brigade families at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, the unit's home base.