CAMP LIBERTY – US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday hailed the “extraordinary” progress made in Iraq, and said Baghdad set an example for democracy in the region.
Gates, who arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday evening, met with Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, commander of US military forces in Iraq, before going into talks with Iraqi leaders.
He was due to meet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani, and expected to travel to northern Iraq for talks with Massud Barzani, president of the autonomous Kurdish.
At the Camp Liberty US base west of Baghdad, the Pentagon chief met with a company of some 200 US soldiers engaged in training the Iraqi army and police.
“To see Iraq today — and when you look at the turbulences going across the entire region — lots of these folks would be happy if they could get to where Iraq is today,” Gates told reporters after meeting the troops.
“It’s not perfect but it’s new and it’s a democracy and people do have rights.”
Since February, Iraq has seen its share of nationwide protests.
But unlike the uprisings that began in Tunisia and swept across the Arab world, Iraqis have not been demanding regime change, just reform and better living conditions.
“What has been achieved here at huge sacrifice on the part of the Iraqis, on the part of our troops and on the part of the American people is really extraordinary. It has been a long an painful journey for everybody.”
As recently as last Saturday two American soldiers in Iraq were killed by “indirect fire,” the US military said, raising the number of US casualties in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion to 4,443, according to the independent website www.icasualties.org.
Fewer than 50,000 US troops are left in Iraq, down from a peak of more than 170,000 after the invasion to topple dictator Saddam Hussein and ahead of a planned full withdrawal in late 2011.
Gates arrived for the unannounced visit to Iraq from Saudi Arabia, where his talks with King Abdullah took place against the backdrop of Arab unrest.
A senior defence official traveling with him said Gates would press Iraqi officials to “complete the government formation process, particularly to get security ministries dealt with.”
More than a year after an inconclusive general election, Iraq still has no defence, interior or national security ministers, even though Maliki stitched together a deal to form a national unity government in December.
“We have some stuff to work out and it’s in both our interests to make sure the ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) are in the right place at the end of 2011,” the official said Gates would tell the Iraqis.
Asked about a possible extension of the US military mission, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Gates had not ruled this out but the request must come from the Iraqis.
“It would probably be in their interest to ask for it sooner rather than later because we’re starting to run out of months,” he added.
General Babak Zebari, the Iraqi armed forces chief of staff, has warned the US withdrawal was premature, saying his forces would not be able to ensure full security before 2020.
Gates told the US House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee in February that Baghdad would face sizeable “problems” after the withdrawal.
He predicted Iraqis would be unable to protect their own airspace, face intelligence challenges and “have problems with logistics and maintenance.”
US Ambassador James Jeffrey told reporters on Friday a 2008 agreement setting the timetable for withdrawal could be renegotiated by either side, but that Iraqi leaders had made no request for an extension and Washington was going ahead with the pullout.
The troop withdrawal is expected to accelerate from late summer, the defence official said.
“It’s General Austin’s plan to keep as robust a contact with the ISF for as long as possible to maximise partnering and training opportunities for as long as possible before we start to draw down,” he added.
Jeffrey said Iraq would face attacks by Al-Qaeda and other militant groups beyond 2011.
In Iraq’s deadliest attack since August, 58 people were killed and 97 wounded in a suicide bombing in the city of Tikrit at the close of last month. The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda’s Iraq affiliate.
