Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt – Two U.S. Cabinet officers, hearing blunt concerns from nervous Arab leaders during a visit Tuesday, assured them the U.S. will not abruptly withdraw troops from Iraq and trigger chaos that could spread across the Persian Gulf region.
Even as an increasingly impatient Congress presses for troops to come home, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said they told gulf leaders that President Bush will take the region’s stability into account as he plans long-term strategy for Iraq.
“There clearly is concern on the part of the Egyptians, and I think it probably represents concern elsewhere in the region, that the United States will somehow withdraw precipitously from Iraq, or in some way that is destabilizing to the entire region,” Gates told reporters after he and Rice wrapped up meetings with Egypt’s top leaders.
Gates, in fact, seemed to open the door a bit wider toward a more gradual pullout – something commanders in Iraq have been angling for of late – saying he is sensing greater openness on Capitol Hill to a more careful, deliberate withdrawal.
During a joint news conference at this luxurious Red Sea resort, the two Cabinet secretaries also said their double-barreled show of diplomatic and military support for friendly Arab allies this week is not a shot across Iran’s bow.
“We are out here to talk about the long term,” Gates said as he and Rice began two days of meetings among Persian Gulf allies and Egypt.
Gates noted that U.S. relationships in the gulf and beyond predate the current unease over Iran’s ambitions and influence.
If Iran perceives the joint visit and U.S. overtures differently, “that’s in the eye of the beholder,” Gates said.
Gates and Rice made a rare joint tour of key Arab friends to renew long-standing pleas for more regional support for Iraq’s struggling government.
Many of the largely Sunni Arab states regard Iraq’s Shiite- led government with suspicion and have dragged their feet on fulfilling pledges of financial and other aid.
The crux of the argument Bush’s advisers are making is that the ripple effects of chaos and failure in oil-rich Iraq would make it worth the allies’ risk to get involved.
The duo – who traveled together late Tuesday on Gates’ plane from Egypt to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah – wrapped up sessions with nine allies in Egypt with no new specific promises of help.
But Rice said she heard the right expressions of support after a gathering of several nations listed as recipients of an expanded aid and weapons package for friendly states in the region.
