Gates, Pace visit Iraq commanders in unannounced trip to discuss surge

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on their way to Baghdad yesterday

BAGHDAD (AP) — New Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in an unannounced trip to the battlefront, discussed a possible infusion of more U.S. troops into Iraq with American commanders on Wednesday but said no decisions have been made.

On just his third day in his post, Gates journeyed to Iraq armed with a mandate from President Bush to help forge a new Iraq war strategy. His goal is get advice from his top military commanders on a new strategy for the increasingly unpopular, costly and chaotic war — a conflict that Bush conceded Tuesday the U.S. is not winning.

"We discussed the obvious things," Gates told reporters after meeting with top U.S. generals. "We discussed the possibility of a surge and the potential for what it might accomplish."

Read the rest at USA Today

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