http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070130/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq
WASHINGTON - Stabilizing Iraq will require "new and different actions" to improve security and promote political reconciliation, the Navy admiral poised to lead American forces in the Middle East said Tuesday.
Adm. William Fallon, at his confirmation hearing, also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that it may be time to "redefine the goals" in Iraq.
"I believe the situation in Iraq can be turned around, but time is short," he said.
Fallon, who currently is commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said he saw a need for a comprehensive approach to Iraq, including economic and political actions to resolve a problem that requires more than military force.
"What we have been doing has not been working," he said. "We have got to be doing, it seems to me, something different."
Fallon said that "we probably erred in our assessment" of the Iraqi government's ability to rebuild its society and establish a peaceful order after the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago.
"One of the things in the back of my mind that I'd like to get answered is to meet with the people that have been working this issue ? particularly our ambassadors, our diplomats ? to get an assessment of what's realistic and what's practical," Fallon said.
"And maybe we ought to redefine the goals here a bit and do something that's more realistic in terms of getting some progress and then maybe take on the other things later," he added.
President Bush nominated Fallon to replace Army Gen. John Abizaid, who is retiring after nearly four years as commander of Central Command.
Fallon said he did not know how many extra troops will be needed in Iraq to successfully implement the new strategy Bush announced Jan. 10. Bush approved the deployment of an additional 21,500 troops between now and May.
Asked by Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., chairman of the committee, whether the flow of additional U.S. troops would be tied to progress by the Iraqis on political and other commitments they made to Bush, Fallon said he had not yet studied the plans in detail, given his continuing responsibilities as Pacific Command chief.
"I'm surprised you don't have that understanding going in, frankly," Levin said.
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., the senior Republican on the committee, said he hoped Fallon intended to give Congress his unvarnished view of conditions in Iraq and elsewhere in his Central Command region.
"Too often administration officials came before this committee and the American people and painted a rosy scenario when it was not there," McCain said, referring to Iraq.
"We need candid assessments, and you'll get them from me," Fallon said.
In addition Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was expected to consider the nomination of John Negroponte, the first director of national intelligence, to become deputy secretary of state.
Fallon and Negroponte's confirmations were not expected to rouse Senate protests, despite bitter opposition in Congress to Bush's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.
Public sentiment has turned strongly against a war that has dragged on for nearly four years with more than 3,000 American dead and violence unabated by insurgents and sectarian militias
Just a question but how can anyone support these Lying creeps Bush and Cheney and Rice?:shrug:
WASHINGTON - Stabilizing Iraq will require "new and different actions" to improve security and promote political reconciliation, the Navy admiral poised to lead American forces in the Middle East said Tuesday.
Adm. William Fallon, at his confirmation hearing, also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that it may be time to "redefine the goals" in Iraq.
"I believe the situation in Iraq can be turned around, but time is short," he said.
Fallon, who currently is commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said he saw a need for a comprehensive approach to Iraq, including economic and political actions to resolve a problem that requires more than military force.
"What we have been doing has not been working," he said. "We have got to be doing, it seems to me, something different."
Fallon said that "we probably erred in our assessment" of the Iraqi government's ability to rebuild its society and establish a peaceful order after the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago.
"One of the things in the back of my mind that I'd like to get answered is to meet with the people that have been working this issue ? particularly our ambassadors, our diplomats ? to get an assessment of what's realistic and what's practical," Fallon said.
"And maybe we ought to redefine the goals here a bit and do something that's more realistic in terms of getting some progress and then maybe take on the other things later," he added.
President Bush nominated Fallon to replace Army Gen. John Abizaid, who is retiring after nearly four years as commander of Central Command.
Fallon said he did not know how many extra troops will be needed in Iraq to successfully implement the new strategy Bush announced Jan. 10. Bush approved the deployment of an additional 21,500 troops between now and May.
Asked by Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., chairman of the committee, whether the flow of additional U.S. troops would be tied to progress by the Iraqis on political and other commitments they made to Bush, Fallon said he had not yet studied the plans in detail, given his continuing responsibilities as Pacific Command chief.
"I'm surprised you don't have that understanding going in, frankly," Levin said.
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., the senior Republican on the committee, said he hoped Fallon intended to give Congress his unvarnished view of conditions in Iraq and elsewhere in his Central Command region.
"Too often administration officials came before this committee and the American people and painted a rosy scenario when it was not there," McCain said, referring to Iraq.
"We need candid assessments, and you'll get them from me," Fallon said.
In addition Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was expected to consider the nomination of John Negroponte, the first director of national intelligence, to become deputy secretary of state.
Fallon and Negroponte's confirmations were not expected to rouse Senate protests, despite bitter opposition in Congress to Bush's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.
Public sentiment has turned strongly against a war that has dragged on for nearly four years with more than 3,000 American dead and violence unabated by insurgents and sectarian militias
Just a question but how can anyone support these Lying creeps Bush and Cheney and Rice?:shrug:
