ASUNCION, Paraguay ? Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that Iraq’s decision to put off completion of its constitution does not help the fight against insurgents, but he expressed confidence the delay would be short.

Like President Bush, Rumsfeld did not characterize the delay as a setback, even though Iraqis remained stuck on major issues such as Kurdish demands for self-determination and the role of Islam in the new government.

“What you’re seeing is the Iraqi people for the first time wrestling with very tough fundamental issues that are important to them, that are important to their regions, that are important for their futures, that reflect the history of the country,” Rumsfeld said. “They’ve been proceeding in a very orderly, peaceful way. I find it admirable.”

Speaking to reporters as he traveled to Latin America, Rumsfeld said he had “every confidence” that Iraqis would vote on a new constitution on Oct. 15 as planned.

Still, he said, “I wish that the constitution were completed rather than delayed.”

The Pentagon chief long has maintained that the Iraqi government must be firm in meeting its political deadlines for forming a new democracy so Iraqis will feel ownership of their country and take over responsibilities from the United States and coalition forces, particularly in battling insurgents.

To that end, Rumsfeld said, “I think a delay is not helpful. How a few days delay in this process would affect the insurgency, I think, would be that it wouldn’t. But who knows? Time will tell. We’ll all learn soon enough.”

He said the development, training and equipping of Iraqi security forces – which the Bush administration calls the key to bringing U.S. troops home – “is coming along fine,” and Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the multinational security transition command in Iraq, has told him “the numbers of Iraqi security forces that are in the fight are increasing on a monthly basis.”