Gates warns Congress not to micromanage military

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Congress Friday against meddling in the complex process of rotating troops in and out of Iraq, saying such micromanagement "would further stress the force and reduce its combat effectiveness."

Gates fired the salvo on the eve of an historic debate in Congress this month on whether to continue funding the Iraq war, which costs taxpayers $10 billion each month.

"The complexity of managing the flow of units, individuals and capabilities to two active combat theaters is enormous and does not lend itself to simplistic or to simple legislative prescriptions," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

The defense secretary took aim at an amendment from Sen. James Webb, D-Va. It would mandate that units spend at least as much time at their home base as they spend deployed.

Gates said the bill would force "gaps in capability" because there would be no unit with enough rest time to immediately replace exiting troops.

Army units are now deploying for 15 months in Iraq and Afghanistan, with only one year back home.

President Bush announced Thursday he had endorsed a pullback of up to 30,000 troops by July 2008 to bring the U.S. force level in Iraq to around 132,000.

But Democratic leaders say the troops were part of a five-brigade reinforcement scheduled to leave anyway. They are pushing for legislation that would have most troops out by the end of 2008.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants Bush to bring home troops, 5,000 at a time, as a message of unhappiness with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, who leaves office next month as Joint Chiefs chairman, rebutted press reports that said senior commanders differed with Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, over troop cuts.

Pace said there was "unanimity amongst the eight four-star officers" who made recommendations to Bush. The eight are Petraeus; Navy Adm. William Fallon, the head of U.S. Central Command; and the six Joint Chiefs.

Gates said he hopes the remaining 15 brigades can be reduced to 10, for a total of about 100,000 troops in Iraq, by January 2009. Petraeus is due to present his next assessment in March 2008.

"There's no way in a fight like this to be able to guarantee other than that there are some tough work still ahead of us," Pace said.

rscarborough@dcexaminer.com

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