United States Is Not Winning The War In Iraq

Robert Gates, President George W. Bush's nominee to replace Donald Rumsfeld as US defence secretary, acknowledged that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq.

He said: "Our course over the next year or two will determine whether the American and Iraqi people and the next president of the United States will face a slowly but steadily improving situation in Iraq and in the region or will face the very real risk, and possible reality, of a regional conflagration."

While Mr Gates said that he did not think America was winning the war in Iraq, he later added that he did not believe the United States was losing the war, either.

Mr Bush nominated the ex-CIA chief to replace Mr Rumsfeld the day after the November 7 mid-term elections, in which Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress to the Democrats.

Mr Gates was head of the CIA from 1991-1993 and his father, Thomas, served as defence secretary under President Dwight Eisenhower from 1959-1961.