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Posted on 12/05/2006 7:51:51 AM PST by Lunatic Fringe
Edited on 12/05/2006 8:08:27 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON (AP) - Robert Gates, the White House choice to be the next defense secretary, conceded Tuesday that the United States is losing 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.
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In a follow-up question, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., 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 comes 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 told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Siren on Drudge site, I can only assume these were comments made during confirmation hearings this morning.
Maybe we are not winning, but I don't hear anybody talking about victory as an objective.
Where is the article?
Much ado about nothing.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robert Gates, U.S. President George W. Bush's choice to run the Pentagon, said on Tuesday America was not winning in Iraq and the war would determine whether the Middle East faced a "regional conflagration."
Appearing at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates said Bush wanted him to take a fresh look at the war and that all options were on the table.
"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 and steadily improving situation in Iraq and in the region or will face the very real risk of a regional conflagration," Gates said.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-12-05T154647Z_01_N04192148_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-GATES-CONGRESS.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-3
Hunkered down in the green zone - building schools while they blow us up is not winning.
Americans don't fear war but there is a sense since we are not moving forward, we are behind.
Our rules of engagement seems to be more like the british the Americans.
Sheesh, what next? Bond will probably want a gay scene in the next movie.
He's a realist.
what does winning entail in such an unconventional conflict?
but we are NOT winning....and maybe he will HELP us to win.
Everyday the news gets worse. I feel deflated. Where is the conservative phoenix to rise from the ashes of this crappy party?
Article here:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061205/D8LQP8H00.html
Filing a report everytime you discharge your weapon is no way to win a war. Disgraceful!
That we are not winning does not necessarily mean that we are losing. He didn't say we are losing, but answered a question about whether or not we are winning.
If he had said "Oh yeah, we're winning" then it would have been very easy to say that he is in denial about the gravity of the situation over there. I wouldn't characterize the current situation as "winning". We already WON the first phase, which was regime change; but now we need to win the second phase, which is to destroy the islamofacist al qaeda presence, and we are not doing that yet.
I heard him say that he agreed with Gen. Pace that we are neither winning nor losing.
Of more concern to me is his statement that we should not attack Syria and that he does not see the Congressional authorization of 2001 as applicable to an attack on Iran.
2. Someone needs to explain to me why I should care that a bunch of Islamofacists are occupied killing each other. Seems to me that's the best outcome of our post-9/11 efforts to push back at those rabid monsters. Shiites, Shi'ites, Sunis, Wahhabis, whatever...I say to all of them, be my guest. Kill each other. You're doing our job for us.
3. I say pull our troops out and let the regional conflagration begin. Yeah, yeah, the price of oil will go through the roof. I say so what. Small price to pay if the Islamofacists will exhaust their blood lust on each other.
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