Gates: U.S. May Need To Pause Iraq Drawdown
Defense Secretary Gates yesterday endorsed, for the first time, the idea of pausing the drawdown of American forces from Iraq this summer.
"A brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense," Mr. Gates told reporters after meeting with General David Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq. General Petraeus has indicated in recent weeks that he wants a "period of evaluation" this summer to assess the impact on Iraq security of reducing the American military presence from 20 brigades to 15 brigades. Of that five-brigade reduction, only one has departed thus far. The last of the five is to be gone by the end of July.
In his remarks at this American base in southern Baghdad, Mr. Gates said General Petraeus had given him his view on the drawdown, which some fear could result in giving up some of the security gains of recent months.
In endorsing General Petraeus's suggestion of pausing after July, Mr. Gates made it clear that President Bush would have the final say. Until now, it had been unclear how Mr. Gates felt about the idea of a pause; he had said publicly a number of times that he hoped conditions in Iraq would permit a continuation of the drawdown in the second half of the year.
In his remarks here, Mr. Gates indicated that he had begun some time ago to lean in General Petraeus's direction.
"In my own thinking, I had been kind of headed in that direction as well," Mr. Gates said. "But one of the keys is how long is that period [of pause and evaluation] and then what happens after that."
Although General Petraeus and other senior commanders in Iraq had been suggesting the possibility of a pause in the drawdown, the idea runs counter to those in the military — particularly in the Army and Marine Corps — who worry that strains on troops from long and multiple combat tours will grow worse unless the drawdown continues after July.
Meantime, police and hospital officials said that twin car bombs struck near the compound of one of Iraq's most powerful Shiite politicians, killing at least six civilians and wounding 20. A dense cloud of black smoke rose over the offices of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the country's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, or SIIC. More than dozen cars were destroyed in a blackened area, and a brick building was blown apart.
The Gates traveling party was not affected. In a ceremony earlier at Camp Victory, the secretary presented Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, the no. 2 commander in Iraq, with a Defense Distinguished Service Medal for his accomplishments in Iraq.
Mr. Gates said General Odierno, working under General Petraeus, "combined classic counterinsurgency with approaches that broke new ground in the history of warfare." Mr. Gates recalled that when General Odierno took command in December 2006, conditions in Iraq were described by some as a civil war.
Also meanwhile, two CBS News journalists were missing in the predominantly Shiite southern city of Basra, the network said yesterday. CBS said all efforts were under way to find the journalists, who were not identified by the network. It requested "that others do not speculate on the identities of those involved" until more information was available.
Iraqi police said the journalists were taken away Sunday after masked gunmen entered the Sultan Palace Hotel in central Basra. The police spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. "CBS News has been in touch with the families and asks that their privacy be respected," the network added in a brief statement from CBS Corp. headquarters in New York.
