Gates Talks Iraq Strategy

Posted on August 2, 2007

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates discussed Iraq with reporters during his current trip to the Middle East. Gates was fairly blunt in his assessment of what's going on in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today that he was discouraged by the departure of the major Sunni Arab bloc from Iraq's coalition government, and noted that the Bush administration may have misjudged the difficulty of achieving reconciliation among Iraq's sectarian factions. In one of his bluntest assessments of the progress of the administration's Iraq strategy, Mr. Gates said: "I think the developments on political side are somewhat discouraging at the national level. And clearly the withdrawal of the Sunnis from the government is discouraging. My hope is that it can all be patched back together."
He made the remarks to reporters traveling on his plane as he returned to Washington after a three-day trip to the Middle East, which included stops in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates but not to Iraq. Mr. Gates said little to indicate whether he would recommend a shift in the administration's strategy next month, when officials are planning to review the results achieved by sending nearly 30,000 additional American troops to Iraq in an effort to secure Baghdad.
When the Bush administration decided to send the additional troops, he said, "we probably all underestimated the depth of the mistrust, and how difficult it would be for these guys to come together on legislation, which, let's face it, is not some kind of secondary issue." He was referring to the failure of Iraq's parliament to pass legislation governing the distribution of oil revenue, to set a timetable for provincial elections or to ease work restrictions on former Baath party members - measures that the Bush administration considers crucial for reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite Arabs in Iraq.

According to recent polling, the American public is sick and tired of the Iraq War, which is now estimated to cost a staggering $1 trillion. In fact, the polls show that voters essentially elected Democrats to wind up the war and start bringing troops home, which they have been unable to do. This has led to an incredibly low approval rating for Congress, as well as for President Bush.

Gates also discussed how difficult it is going to be to pull troops out of Iraq without creating an even bigger disaster in the area.

As he has traveled around the Middle East this week, Mr. Gates has stressed that whenever the United States begins drawing down its troops in Iraq, it must be careful not to leave the country in chaos, which he warned could spread throughout the region.
Mr. Gates stopped briefly in Abu Dhabi today for talks with Mohammed bin Zayeed al Nahyan, the emirate's crown prince. On Wednesday, he toured the port in Kuwait City by helicopter; that port would be vital for shipping American military equipment home whenever troops begin to withdraw.

It's hard to say what kind of reception Gates is getting in the various Arab countries where he has gone, hat in hand, to beg for help in pasting Iraq back together. But it does appear clear that he is trying to pave the way for some kind of orderly troop withdrawal.