CAMP RAMADI (Iraq): US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday that America’s war in Iraq is over but admitted that the outcome will remain “clouded” by the reason it was waged in the first place.

Gates said he was “optimistic” about the future of Iraq.

Asked by reporters at Camp Ramadi, an American base about 100 kilometres west of Baghdad, whether the United States was still at war in Iraq, Gates replied: “I’d say we’re not. Combat operations have ceased.”

“We are still going to work with Iraqis on counter-terrorism, we are still doing a lot of training and advising,” said Gates, who arrived early Wednesday on an unannounced visit to Iraq.

“So I would say we’ve moved into the final phase of our engagement in Iraq,” he added, after meeting US soldiers staying on to provide assistance to the Iraqi army.

Asked if the war that killed more than 4,400 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis was worth it, Gates said: “The problem with this war for many Americans is that the premise on which we justified going to war proved not to be valid.”

“Even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States, it will always be clouded by how it began.”

“But there can be no disagreement with what has been achieved here by our men and women in uniform,” said Gates, referring to the stuttering democratic process under way in Iraq.

“I am optimistic that these guys will continue to make progress.”

Speaking to troops at Camp Ramadi who will be part of that mission, Gates did not rule out the possibility of re-negotiating with Iraq a November 2009 security agreement that paved the way for the end of the combat mission.

“Whether or not the question is reopened, I think we’ll have to await the formation of a new Iraqi government. We’d be willing to look at that but again it would have to come at the initiative of the Iraqis,” he said.

Gates said judging the invasion required “a historian’s perspective.”

If Iraq remained a democracy and played a constructive role, it could have a significant impact on the Middle East, he said.

“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 over time I think remains to be seen,” he said.

“This is going to be a work in progress for a long time. This is a new thing in the several-thousand-year history of Iraq and it’s a pretty new thing in this region of the world. But I think they’re off to a good start.”

He told US troops in Ramadi they still had an important role to play.

“Even as combat operations end in Iraq and our attention increasingly shifts to Afghanistan, you should know that your work is still critical to the ultimate success of our efforts here,” he said.

“So for what it’s worth, if anybody asks me about it back at the Pentagon, I’ll say I think that we ought to continue that combat pay,” he said in response to a question from a soldier.

Gates said the United States was committed to going down to a zero presence in Iraq by the end of 2011, in accordance with the security pact, but did not rule out leaving some US soldiers longer if the Iraqi government asked for them.

One soldier asked whether the US might maintain a military presence in Iraq after 2012, when all US forces are due to leave by agreement with the Iraqi leadership.

“Any such proposal would have to be at the initiative of the new Iraqi government,” Gates replied.

“We would obviously be willing to look at that.”

Lieutenant Colonel Buddy Houston, deputy brigadier commander of the 4/3 Advise and Assist Brigade in Ramadi, said there have been no incidents in the last 14 months where Iraqis asked for direct combat help.

“I can’t imagine a violent situation where we would have to go back in and re-engage,” Houston said.

He added that he didn’t anticipate, “even under the worst-case scenario,” that a civil war could break out in Iraq as US troops leave.

Agencies