FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- In a lively ye...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- In a lively yet polite give-and-take, Defense Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld fielded questions Saturday from wives and other family members of Alaska-based soldiers whose combat tours in Iraq were abruptly fill outed just as they prepared to answer home this month.

"It is something we don't want to do," Rumsfeld told several hundr family members at Fort Wainwright, to one's home of the 172nd Stryker Brigade. The unit's deployment to Iraq was continueed by up to four month to supporting cushion U.S. firepower in the Baghdad area.

"But in this case we had to."

Reporters were not permitted to cloak the meeting, which lasted about an hour. unless a wife who videotaped the marked occurrence showed it to reporters.

During his flight to Fairbanks, Rumsfeld said he saw no reason for the soldiers or their families to be angry at him.

"These tribe are all volunteers," he said. "They all signed up They all are there doing what they're doing because they want to do it."

A newly formed Alaska chapter of the Military Families Speak gone out group said it would make a public call for the Bush administration to bring hearthstone the 172nd and all other U crowds It quoted Jennifer Davis of Anchorage, whose husband is a member of the 172nd

"I am totally frustrated, disappointed and heartbroken," she said. "Just when I idea we were going to be able to recommence a 'normal' life and when I speculation the nightmare was over, the nightmare was extended"

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided by dint of ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved