Gates urges veto of troop-rest measure

Future troop size unknown
Bush said last week that he had approved a plan by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, to withdraw 5,700 troops from Iraq by the holidays and reduce the force from 20 combat brigades to 15 brigades by next July.

The president has ordered Petraeus to make a further assessment and fresh recommendations in March. There are about 169,000 U.S. troops in Iraq today.

Gates on Friday raised the possibility of cutting troop levels to 100,000 or so by the end of next year, well beyond the cuts Bush announced, in what appeared to be a conciliatory gesture to anti-war Democrats and some wary Republicans who are pushing for troop reductions and an end to the war.

But on Sunday, Gates said he could not say how large the force would be in the coming years, stressing that it would depend on conditions on the ground and whether the security situation in Iraq had improved dramatically.

In the long term, Gates said, U.S. forces would focus on border security, fighting terrorists and training and equipping Iraqi security forces.

"The idea is that we would have a much more limited role in Iraq for some protracted period of time, a stabilizing force, a force that would be a fraction of the size of what we have there now," Gates said.

NBC News video Political or security progress first? Sept. 16: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks with NBC’s Tim Russert of “Meet the Press” about the formula for success in Iraq. Meet the Press

Compared to role in South Korea
Bush has compared America's future in Iraq to the peacekeeping role U.S. troops play in South Korea, where they have been stationed for some five decades.

Gates, meanwhile, said he disagreed with assertions by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in his new book that the Iraq war "is largely about oil."

"I've known him a long time and I disagree with that," Gates said. "I wasn't here for the decision-making process that initiated it, that started the war. I know the same allegation was made about the Gulf War in 1991 and I just don't believe it's true," he said.

"It's really about stability in the Gulf. It's about rogue regimes trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. It's about aggressive dictators," Gates said. "After all, Saddam Hussein launched wars against several of his neighbors. He was trying to develop weapons of mass destruction, certainly when we went in, in 1991."

Gates spoke on "Fox News Sunday" and "This Week" on ABC. Reed was on ABC and Levin appeared on "Face the Nation" on CBS.

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