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.)
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2008/12/the-gates-obama-axis/207936/
