Gates: Iraq Mission To Change

The U.S. military mission in Iraq likely will shift to training and augmenting Iraqi security forces and away from limited counterinsurgency missions, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said during a Feb. 1 telecast of NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.” The mission change follows plans to end U.S. military presence in Iraq altogether by 2011, Gates said. The speed in which the new mission will supersede the old depends upon how much progress is made toward establishing peace and stabilizing the country, Gates said.