RAMADI, Iraq — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday that history will judge whether the war in Iraq was worth it.
In Iraq to mark the formal close of the US combat mission and the departure of the top US war commander, Gates visited troops at Camp Ramadi in western Iraq.
Asked whether the United States was still at war in Iraq, Gates answered succinctly, “I would say we are not.’’
Fewer than 50,000 US troops are still in Iraq, down from more than 165,000 at the height of the fighting.
Gates was less definitive about whether the 7 1/2-year war was worthwhile. That judgment “really requires a historian’s perspective,’’ and will depend in part on whether Iraq emerges as a democratic anchor in the Middle East, Gates told reporters after his Ramadi visit.
“I believe our men and women in uniform believe we have accomplished something that makes the sacrifice, the bloodshed, not to have been in vain,’’ he said. “How it all weighs in the balance remains to be seen.’’
Although the remaining troops’ main role is to help train Iraqi forces over the next year, they are not out of harm’s way. Recent US deaths in Iraq have come from homemade explosives that deliberately target US vehicles or soldiers, or attacks on gatherings where insurgents knew Americans would be.
Several thousand US special operations forces will continue to hunt Al Qaeda and other terrorist fighters, accompanying Iraqi commandoes. US forces will remain armed and will return fire or fight in self-defense.
Gates said the United States would consider keeping some military forces in place past next year, if the Iraqi government requests it.
All US forces are set to leave by the end of 2011 under an agreement with the Iraqi government.
Yesterday’s transition from a combat stance to an advise and assist role was largely symbolic. US troops have been leaving Iraq in huge numbers for the past year, while their front-line combat roles dwindled.
