bobdina
09-01-2010, 12:15 PM
Gates: 'No time for premature victory parades'
By Kevin Baron
Published: August 31, 2010
310810GATES_web
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Amid the commemorations and speeches marking the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Defense Secretary Robert Gates — without mentioning the name “Bush” — gave a nod to the Republicans who are demanding the Obama administration give credit to President George W. Bush for ordering the 2007 troop “surge.”
But Gates, in his first public remarks after a two-week summer vacation, also quickly parlayed his comments on Iraq into a call for “willingness to see it through” in Afghanistan, a message the White House is likely to drill down this week.
Afghanistan today is “reminiscent of the early months of the Iraq surge,” Gates said in a speech to the American Legion national convention. “Very few believed the surge could take us to where we are today in Iraq — and there were plenty of reasons for doubts. Back then, this country’s civilian and military leadership [read: the Bush administration] chose the path we believed had the best chance for achieving our national security objectives — as we are doing in Afghanistan today.”
He made no mention of the Sunni Awakening or a host of other factors frequently credited with ebb in violence that followed the troop surge, including targeted killings and captures of key insurgency leaders.
President Barack Obama in his weekly address said, “The bottom line is this: The war in Iraq is ending.”
But in the Midwest, Gates interjected a dose of Kansas reality to the occasion.
“This is no time for premature victory parades or self-congratulation,” Gates said. “We still have a job to do and responsibilities there.”
He noted that months after elections, Iraqis have been unable to form a new government. Al-Qaida in Iraq is “beaten, but not gone.” Sectarian tensions remain.
Gates at least allowed a glimmer of optimism.
“This is the moment both our nations have long worked and hoped for,” he said.
“Iraqis have assumed full responsibility for their own security,” he said, though 50,000 U.S. troops remain there through December 2011, many carrying out counterterrorism operations and overseeing long-term military training missions for years into the future.
Now Afghans, like the Iraqis before them, Gate said, “must accept responsibility for the future of their country.”
By Kevin Baron
Published: August 31, 2010
310810GATES_web
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Amid the commemorations and speeches marking the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Defense Secretary Robert Gates — without mentioning the name “Bush” — gave a nod to the Republicans who are demanding the Obama administration give credit to President George W. Bush for ordering the 2007 troop “surge.”
But Gates, in his first public remarks after a two-week summer vacation, also quickly parlayed his comments on Iraq into a call for “willingness to see it through” in Afghanistan, a message the White House is likely to drill down this week.
Afghanistan today is “reminiscent of the early months of the Iraq surge,” Gates said in a speech to the American Legion national convention. “Very few believed the surge could take us to where we are today in Iraq — and there were plenty of reasons for doubts. Back then, this country’s civilian and military leadership [read: the Bush administration] chose the path we believed had the best chance for achieving our national security objectives — as we are doing in Afghanistan today.”
He made no mention of the Sunni Awakening or a host of other factors frequently credited with ebb in violence that followed the troop surge, including targeted killings and captures of key insurgency leaders.
President Barack Obama in his weekly address said, “The bottom line is this: The war in Iraq is ending.”
But in the Midwest, Gates interjected a dose of Kansas reality to the occasion.
“This is no time for premature victory parades or self-congratulation,” Gates said. “We still have a job to do and responsibilities there.”
He noted that months after elections, Iraqis have been unable to form a new government. Al-Qaida in Iraq is “beaten, but not gone.” Sectarian tensions remain.
Gates at least allowed a glimmer of optimism.
“This is the moment both our nations have long worked and hoped for,” he said.
“Iraqis have assumed full responsibility for their own security,” he said, though 50,000 U.S. troops remain there through December 2011, many carrying out counterterrorism operations and overseeing long-term military training missions for years into the future.
Now Afghans, like the Iraqis before them, Gate said, “must accept responsibility for the future of their country.”