WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US lesson in strategy for the Middle East is to be more realistic about its ability to shape event outcomes in the region, former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on Wednesday.
"What I think we have learned, it is to be very modest about our ability to shape events in that part of the world," Gates said during a Senate Armed Services hearing.
Asked about the recent years of US engagement in the Middle East, Gates explained that the United States should "make sure that our strategy does not include grandiose objectives that are fundamentally unachievable."
"It seems to me we are thinking strictly in month to month terms," the former US defense secretary said.
After the 2003 US invasion toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the country has been engulfed in ongoing violence. Large areas of Iraq are currently controlled by the Islamic State (ISIL) terrorist group.
Currently, a US-led coalition of 60 countries has been bombing ISIL positions in Syria and Iraq since 2014 without the approval of the UN Security Council or the Syrian authorities.
US President Barack Obama outlined plans to withdraw US forces from the Middle East during his second term in office, but has maintained US troops in the region following the rise of ISIL and the reemergence of other threats.
