Can Gates succeed?(Robert Gates)

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 19

WHEN he took the oath as secretary of defense, Robert Gates was weighed down by factors he couldn't ignore, and couldn't alter. We are continuing to search for just the word that describes the U.S. mission in Iraq. But you can't do it, given American sensibilities, in the presence of the doommaker, and President Bush was the dominant figure at the ceremony.

Robert Gates minced no words on the matter of the responsibility we have in Iraq. He acknowledged the final objective, which is "to find a way to bring America's sons and daughters home again." But that will happen the day after tomorrow. What happens tomorrow is a continuation of the struggle, because "failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility, and endanger Americans for decades to come."

What can Mr. Gates mean when he speaks of failure "at this juncture"? The same day he spoke, the Pentagon reported that attacks against American and Iraqi targets had surged to their highest level recorded so far. The insurgents punctuated their mission by reducing electricity in Baghdad to dangerously low levels. "Now Baghdad is almost isolated," said Karim Wahid, the Iraqi electricity minister. "We almost don't have any power coming from outside." If we proceed with a surge in American manpower, is it expected that fresh troops will bring their own electricity?

The American public hasn't been informed on the matter of whether we will send reinforcements to Baghdad. One element in the decision whether to do so will surely be the fact that there aren't millions of young men and women pounding at the recruiting offices' doors asking to be sent over to do duty in Iraq. Exchanges of opinion on the matter of an increase in ...