Baghdad mission set for February
Washington- President Bush's new operation to secure Baghdad will begin in earnest with a push by thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops in the first week of February, and its chances of success should be evident within a few months, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers Friday.
If the plan works, the United States could begin drawing down troop levels by the end of the year, Gates said. If the Iraqi government does not deliver troops and political and economic support, he said, the United States could withhold many of the 21,500 additional forces Bush has ordered to secure the most violent parts of Iraq.
Gates and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also assured members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that there are no plans to take military operations into Iran, clarifying remarks Bush made on Wednesday in announcing the new Iraq package.
"From a military standpoint," Pace said while responding to questions, there is "no need to cross the Iranian border."
Gates said a brigade of several thousand Iraqi troops is expected to arrive in Baghdad in about three weeks to beef up security, part of an effort to bring in 8,000 more Iraqi forces to quell sectarian violence. The first additional U.S. brigade is expected to arrive in Baghdad in coming days to support Iraqi forces as they clear and hold neighborhoods throughout the city.
"I think that what's perhaps the newest part of this is that it really does put the onus on the Iraqis to come through," Gates said. He later acknowledged that the Iraqi government's "record of fulfilling the commitments is not an encouraging one" but said that Iraqis "really do seem to be eager to take control of this security situation."
Gates said Iraqi lawmakers might decide to replace Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, if he fails to take steps to prosecute the new plan to regain control of Baghdad.
"The first consequence that he has to face is the possibility that he'll lose his job," Gates said. "There are beginning to be some people around that may say, 'I can do better than he's doing,' in terms of making progress."
Administration officials have discussed among themselves whether they might need to withdraw support for al-Maliki if he doesn't perform, notably by building a new coalition in the Iraqi parliament. Gates' statement was the first mention of the subject in public by a senior administration official.
Bush is expected to ask in February for $100 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His plan to add 21,500 troops to the 132,000 already there is estimated to cost an additional $5.6 billion.
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and a leading presidential contender for 2008, said he supports the plan and he tried to shift the burden to war critics.
McCain said those advocating the start of a troop withdrawal, which includes many Democrats, "have a responsibility to tell us what they believe are the consequences of withdrawal in Iraq. If we walk away from Iraq, we'll be back, possibly in the context of a wider war in the world's most volatile region."
Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who oversees military funding, said he will propose tying congressional approval of war money to shutting the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba. Other conditions he said he is considering include not extending troop deployments and giving soldiers and Marines more time to train between deployments.
Bush struck a defiant note in an interview to be televised Sunday by CBS on "60 Minutes." Asked if he believes he has the authority to send additional troops to Iraq no matter what Congress wants to do, Bush said: "I think I've got - in this situation, I do, yeah. And I fully understand they will . . . they could try to stop me from doing it, but, uh, I've made my decision and we're going forward."
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate intend to hold symbolic votes in coming days to demonstrate the extent of opposition to Bush's troop increase. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, told fellow Democrats in a closed-door meeting she intends to allow the Senate - where several Republicans have been vocal in their criticism of the president - to begin debate first.
