US not winning Iraq war, says Gates

WASHINGTON—Robert Gates, the White House choice to be the next defense secretary, conceded Tuesday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and warned that if that country is not stabilized in the next year or two it could lead to a “regional conflagration.”
At the outset of his Senate confirmation hearing, Gates said he is open to new ideas about correcting the U.S. course in Iraq, which he said would be his highest priority if confirmed as expected.
Gates, 63, said he believes President Bush wants to see Iraq improve to the point where it can govern and defend itself, while seeking a new approach. “What we are now doing is not satisfactory,” Gates said.
“In my view, all options are on the table, in terms of how we address this problem in Iraq,” he added. Asked point-blank by Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., whether the U.S. is winning in Iraq, Gates replied, “No, sir.” He later said he believes the United States is neither winning nor losing, “at this point.”
Gates was noncommittal on questions about whether and when to begin a U.S. troop withdrawal. “It depends on the conditions on the ground under which troops were withdrawn,” he said, adding that he was not yet knowledgeable enough about conditions in Iraq to offer an opinion on how a troop withdrawal would affect the sectarian violence. He said that if confirmed, he would go to Iraq soon to consult with U.S. commanders on this and other complex questions about the way forward.
Asked later whether announcing a specific troop withdrawal timetable would send a signal of U.S. weakness, Gates said it “would essentially tell (the insurgents) how long they have to wait until we’re gone.” The hearing was nonconfrontational, with occasional hints of humor from Gates. Much of the questioning from panel members was focused on whether Gates would provide independent advice to Bush, and the former CIA director assured the committee that he would not shirk from that duty. He said he did not give up his position as president of Texas A&M University and return to Washington to “be a bump on a log.” Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., a likely 2008 presidential candidate and an advocate of increasing U.S. troop strength in Iraq, asked whether Gates believes the U.S. had too few troops at the outset of the war in 2003.
“I suspect in hindsight some of the folks in the administration would not make the same decisions they made,” including the number of troops in Iraq to establish control after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Gates said. He also told Levin he believes a political solution in Iraq is required to end the violence. The confirmation hearing came amid intensifying pressure on Bush to take a new approach in Iraq, reflecting the outcome of the Nov. 7 elections that put Democrats back in control of both houses of Congress. Democrats and some Republicans have pressed Bush to begin withdrawing some of the 140,000 U.S. troops. U.S. deaths in Iraq are approaching 2,900 and a relentless insurgency and escalating sectarian violence are raising questions about whether Iraq will devolve into all-out civil war, and whether Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government can ever be effective.
“Our course over the next year or two will determine whether the American and Iraqi people and the next president of the United States will face a slowly but steadily improving situation in Iraq and in the region or will face the very real risk, and possible reality, of a regional conflagration,” Gates said. Bush has repeatedly rejected the idea of a quick U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and said he wants to keep U.S. forces there until Iraq is able to govern and defend itself without being a haven for terrorists. “It seems to me that the United States is going to have to have some kind of presence in Iraq for a long time ... but it could be with a dramatically smaller number of U.S. forces than are there today,” Gates said.—Agencies