Gates: Baghdad push starts February; says Maliki 'may lose his job'

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."

Read the rest at the Plain Dealer

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