US May Be In Iraq For 'Another 50 Years'
US may be in Iraq for 'another 50 years'
June 02, 2007 01:00am
THE US Defence Secretary suggested for the first time yesterday that American forces could be in Iraq for at least another half century, under an arrangement similar to the effectively permanent US troop deployment in South Korea.
In comments that will dismay war opponents at home and alarm Muslim allies in the Middle East, Robert Gates said that "some force of Americans" will be in Iraq for a "protracted period of time" and pointed to South Korea as the model.
US troops have been in South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, in the heavily armed demilitarised zone that separates the country from North Korea.
US generals are in charge of the combined US-South Korean forces.
Mr Gates, speaking to reporters in Hawaii during a visit to US Pacific Command, said that current war plans still called for an assessment of the US "surge" strategy in September, but he said he was looking beyond that to the type of military presence the US would have in Iraq over the long term.
He contrasted the situation in South Korea to Vietnam, where, he said, "we just left, lock, stock and barrel", a reference to the US withdrawal after the fall of Saigon in1975.
"What I'm thinking in terms of is a mutual agreement where some force of Americans - with mutually agreed missions - is present for a protracted period of time," he said.
"The idea is more a model of a mutually agreed arrangement whereby we have a long and enduring presence but under the consent of both parties and under certain conditions.
"The Korea model is one, the security relationship we have with Japan is another."
All eyes in Washington are on the progress report to Congress in September by General David Petraeus, the US ground commander, with moderate Republicans saying that anything less than significant optimism will end their support for President George W. Bush.
Yesterday, General Raymond Odierno, the No.2 commander in Iraq, told reporters in Washington via video link from Baghdad that he might not be able to make a full assessment by September of whether the build-up was succeeding in stabilising Iraq.
General Odierno admitted that in an effort to quell violence, the US military was seeking talks with Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr - believed to be behind the kidnapping of five Britons this week.
A Sadr aide confirmed US officials had approached the anti-American cleric's supporters, but said Sadr would never begin a dialogue with "occupation forces".
"He has a grass-roots movement that he's always going to have; we have to recognise that," General Odierno said in an interview this week.
"We're trying to talk to him. We want to talk to him."
In the video conference from Baghdad yesterday, General Odierno said the US was reaching out to Sunni Muslims as well as Shia armed factions such as Sadr's Mahdi Army.
The Times, Washington, in The Australian
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117...rom=public_rss
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