US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said yesterday that while the US is no longer at war in Iraq, history will judge whether the fight was worth it.
The Pentagon chief met with troops at Camp Ramadi just a few hours after US President Barack Obama declared an official end to the US combat role in Iraq and told Americans it was time to “turn the page.”
Asked whether the US was still at war in Iraq, Gates said succinctly, “I would say we are not.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
He was less direct when asked whether the war was worthwhile, saying that will depend in part on whether Iraq emerges as a democratic anchor in the Middle East.
That judgment “really requires a historian’s perspective,” Gates said.
“I believe our men and women in uniform believe we have accomplished something that makes the sacrifice, the bloodshed, not to have been in vain,” he said. “How it all weighs in the balance remains to be seen.”
“The problem with this war, I think, for many Americans, is that the premise on which we justified going to war turned out not to be valid,” Gates said.
“Even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States, it’ll always be clouded by how it began,” he said.
Ramadi, home of one of the US military’s new advisory brigades, is in the heart of Anbar Province, the cradle of the Sunni insurgency against the initial US occupation.
Gates said Anbar holds a special and haunting significance for the US military. Several members of his staff were wounded or saw their comrades killed in the province during the worst years of the fighting.
The difference between that time and now was illustrated by the questions soldiers asked the secretary. Some of their top concerns included health care, retirement and the state of combat pay now that the combat mission is officially over.
One soldier asked whether the US might maintain a military presence in Iraq after 2012, when all US forces are due to leave by agreement with the Iraqi leadership.
“Any such proposal would have to be at the initiative of the new Iraqi government,” Gates said. “We would obviously be willing to look at that.”
He emphasized that the US was still waiting for the formation of that new government before that idea can even be broached.
After his session with the troops, Gates flew to Baghdad for meetings with General Ray Odierno, the outgoing commander of US forces in Iraq, and his successor, Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of