It may turn out to be the critical one for the new administration:
Mr. Gates … noted that, since the election, the United States and Iraq have reached a strategic-and-security accord calling for the complete withdrawal of American forces within three years. As for the 16-month goal, Mr. Gates said, “I’m less concerned about that timetable.” … Mr. Gates left open the possibility that his stay at the Pentagon might be longer than expected, given his holdover status. “The president-elect and I agreed that this would be open-ended, and so there is no time frame,” Mr. Gates said.
Obama is intent on co-opting the realist right for the Democratic party in foreign affairs. It’s as shrewd a strategy as it is politically lethal. And exactly what I expected. With any luck, it will prompt eventually a reform on the right in response. Buh-bye, Kristol and Kagan? I fear the GOP will need another electoral drubbing before it gets that message.
(Photo: Scott Olson/Getty.)
The Dish 