United States 'losing war in Iraq'

[Rocol]

The man picked by George W Bush to be America's next defence secretary has conceded that the US is losing the war in Iraq.

Robert Gates made the admission a few hours before the president receives a major report on future options in the conflict.

The former head of the CIA was asked by Senators at his confirmation hearing: "We are not winning the war in Iraq. Is that correct?"

Mr Gates said: "That is my view. Yes sir."

He was then asked: "Therefore the status quo is not acceptable?"

He responded: "That is correct sir."

Mr Gates went on to warn that if Iraq is not stabilised in a year or two, the whole Middle East could implode.

He said: "There needs to be a change in our approach in Iraq. In my view all options are on the table."

The Iraq Study Group is now due to report, and they are expected to call for the biggest change yet in US strategy in Iraq, recommending a gradual pull-out of combat troops over the next 18 months, although they are not likely to fix a timetable.

He said: "There needs to be a change in our approach in Iraq. In my view all options are on the table."

Let's hope that doesn't mean that we are going to see another ' Hiroshima ' ...

[stubacca68]

having been there and seen it, most of the Iraqi's actually support the troops out there, however it is the minority and the extreemists that are fighting, but that is the same wherever in the world, the british and us troops are fighting a really hard battle against what are now very well trained and equiped insurgents.
Whatever your view on the conflict whether it be in Iraq or Afghanistan please support our guys out there and the US and the many other countries that have troops there.

[Saurgrist]

The Middle East would implode no matter what outcome we have... some of the countries are so backward and are against anything 'Western,' and hate the countries around them that have 'Western' culture. Plus, some of them are insane and will kill themselves to kill others, so they are very dangerous. We need to stand behind our troops, they are risking their lives for us.

[Setarime]

You are quite right Saurgrist the troops out there are risking their lives, but I firmly believe we should not be there, let them aort it out amongst themselves. In response to your comments Rocol, nothing that George W Bush does or will do surprises me, he is a very dangerous man

[Saurgrist]

Originally Posted by Haggis Basher

You are quite right Saurgrist the troops out there are risking their lives, but I firmly believe we should not be there, let them aort it out amongst themselves. In response to your comments Rocol, nothing that George W Bush does or will do surprises me, he is a very dangerous man

I agree HB with wishing that we weren't there either (for the sake of our troops) but since we started, we have to finish for the sake of the Iraqi people...

I also wish they could sort themselves out but these people kill each other over their religious beliefs, and things of that nature. I think that if we didn't do anything at all, there would be more attacks on our western countries/allies as there are terrorist cells all over that area, and it is true that we are taking down these terrorists... and the people who we have already captured show these results.

On a side note, the way that these people interpret religion, which is there to set values and morals of life, is ridiculous. A religion that calls for its people to murder the innocent is not a religion, but rather a cult. I do not believe that the religion of Islam calls for its people to murder, but it is the radicals that use it to control the uneducated and force people to believe what they want them to believe. They are using the religion for the power that it holds over its immense amount of followers, and not for the morals that it can possibly teach these people.

This is why I pray and worry for our troops' lives... as they are out there helping Iraqi citizens and these crazy people are shooting at them and blowing up bombs around them.

[TGLucario]

US have been losin the war since it begin!