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thedrifter
12-19-06, 01:13 PM
December 25, 2006
Taking stock, looking forward
Way ahead in Iraq unclear as Rumsfeld departs, Gates arrives

By Gordon Lubold
Staff writer

As the new defense secretary mulls options for the way ahead in Iraq, the old defense secretary mulled how history will remember this period in time.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was due to depart the Pentagon on Dec. 18 at a time of intense debate as to the way ahead for Iraq and the war on terrorism — more troops in Iraq, or fewer? More embedded trainers, or status quo?

The answers are far from clear, and President Bush himself said he has not made any decisions and will not announce his new policy for the way ahead in Iraq until some time in January.

Rumsfeld kept a low profile in his last days in office, handing out a series of awards to top Pentagon officials Dec. 13, holding a handful of town hall meetings and appearing at a holiday party with the Pentagon press corps later in the day.

A large farewell parade was scheduled for Dec. 15 before Robert Gates is sworn in as defense secretary on Dec. 18.

For Rumsfeld now, it’s about looking back. The 74-year-old two-time defense secretary, who recently said he may write a book, has been reluctant to muse about how he would like to be remembered or just what stamp he may have left on the department he led for six years. But during his last days in office, he became more reflective.

“History will record that this global campaign against violent extremists has been one of the most complicated and one of the most difficult of conflicts,” he said. “It’s a struggle that’s unlike any our military has faced before.”

A complicated struggle

Rumsfeld said many Americans still don’t understand the war or what it means. And on a whirlwind final visit to Iraq, he told U.S. service members in Mosul that this would not be the first time Americans have felt like throwing in the towel, reminding his young audience there were cries for Gen. George Washington to be fired during the Revolutionary War.

“That’s not quite the way the history books report it today, but it’s a fact,” said Rumsfeld, who says his favorite books are history books. “And it’s been so in every conflict as it is today. But something important is never easy, and to be sure, this struggle is not easy, it’s complicated.”

As Rumsfeld departs, the focus will be on the way ahead — and that is far from clear. Gates is still discussing with senior commanders and others what he should recommend to Bush, weighing the options of the Iraq Study Group, members of a panel put together by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace, and others.

It’s likely that whatever consensus emerges will revolve around a new focus on training Iraqi forces, with possibly more embedded U.S. trainers in Iraqi units. Gates and Bush will also likely put much stock in the advice of the senior ground commander in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who has recently been pressing the notion that there simply isn’t much more the U.S. can do there militarily.

“I happen to believe we have done everything militarily that we possibly can,” Chiarelli told reporters by video teleconference in the Pentagon on Dec. 8.

The U.S. must “get out of thinking” of the war in Iraq as solely a military conflict in which adding more forces to fight an enemy is the solution. Chiarelli, who is nearing the end of a second, 12-month tour in Iraq, said the focus must be on political reconciliation between the warring Sunnis and Shiites, as well as economic rehabilitation.

He said every time he meets with local Iraqi leaders, he is struck by their desire to “put angry young men to work.”

Bush himself crossed the Potomac River to visit the Pentagon on Dec. 13 and hear firsthand what his commanders think. Afterward, he took a moment to send a message to service members fighting the war on terrorism.

“I am listening to a lot of advice to develop a strategy to help you succeed,” said Bush, referring to the effort to find a new way ahead in Iraq, where more than 2,900 U.S. troops have fallen. “The men and women in uniform are always on my mind. I am proud of them, and I appreciate their sacrifices, and I want them to know that I am focused on developing a strategy that will help them to achieve their mission.”

Bush said he wants the troops to have the “tools they need” to create a free and democratic Iraq and that the U.S. will “not give up” on this mission.

“You have my unshakable commitment in this important fight to help secure” Iraq, he said.

Bush has been noncommittal on any of the options before him, saying he will announce his plan when he’s ready. “I’m not going to be rushed to make a difficult decision,” he said.

Ellie