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| Iraq |
| Gates in Iraq to transfer US war command |
| 2008-09-16 |
| U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday, saying the new U.S. commander will inherit a "mission in transition" as the U.S. force shrinks and turns over more of the country to Iraqis. Gates is making his eighth visit to Iraq since he took over at the Pentagon in December 2006. On Tuesday he will preside over a ceremony to transfer command of U.S.-led forces in Iraq to Lieutenant-General Ray Odierno from General David Petraeus, whose term was marked by the deployment of 30,000 extra U.S. troops and a substantial decline in violence. "The challenge, I think, for General Odierno is: How do we work with the Iraqis to preserve the gains that have already been achieved, expand upon them, even as the numbers of U.S. forces are shrinking," Gates told reporters on his plane. Odierno, who served as the number two U.S. commander in Iraq for 15 months until February, will be promoted to full general on Tuesday. The "end game" is now underway, Gates said last week. "There is no question we will still be engaged as we are, but the areas in which we are seriously engaged will I think continue to narrow," Gates told reporters on Monday. With levels of violence down to around four-year lows after an 18-month "surge" in U.S. forces, President George W. Bush last week announced plans to send 8,000 troops home by January. Many troops who were scheduled to replace those departing from Iraq will now head to Afghanistan, where insurgent violence has grown dramatically in the past two years. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 The "end game" is now underway, Gates said last week Reminds me of: At the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a Mrs. Powel anxiously awaited the results, and as Benjamin Franklin emerged from the long task now finished, asked him directly: "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic if you can keep it" responded Franklin. |
| Posted by: Betty Grating2215 2008-09-16 05:43 |
| #1 bio |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-09-16 01:06 |