WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The man tapped to command U.S. Central Command said Tuesday the time has come to dial back the lofty goals for Iraq.
"Going back to 2003, we have hundreds of good ideas of things we'd like to see in Iraq," said Adm. William Fallon, currently the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We probably erred in our assessment of the ability of these people to take on all of these tasks all at one time.
"Maybe we ought to redefine the goals here a bit and do something that's more realistic in terms of getting progress and take on the other things later," Fallon told the committee.
He did not specify exactly what goals should be jettisoned, but his testimony suggested that he would prefer stability and economic development over the slow, complicated and often ineffective machinations of a democratic government.
"There is very little in the way of (Iraqi) history that lends itself to the expectations we would have in terms of a democratic society," Fallon said. "We would probably be wise to temper the likelihood that Iraq is suddenly going to turn into something close to what we enjoy in the country is going to be a long time coming.
"I don't know what winning is," Fallon said. "But the goals -- this is one of the things I'd be working with" Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to define, he said.
