U.S. hears Arab concerns

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt -- Visiting U.S. Cabinet officers, hearing blunt concerns from nervous Arab leaders Tuesday, assured them the U.S. will not abruptly withdraw troops from Iraq and trigger chaos that could spread across the Gulf region.

Even as an increasingly impatient Congress presses for troops to come home, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said they told Gulf leaders that President Bush will take the region's stability into account as he plans long-term strategy for Iraq.

"There clearly is concern on the part of the Egyptians, and I think it probably represents concern elsewhere in the region, that the United States will somehow withdraw precipitously from Iraq, or in some way that is destabilizing to the entire region," Gates told reporters after he and Rice wrapped up meetings with Egypt's top leaders.

Gates, in fact, seemed to open the door a bit wider toward a more gradual pullout -- something commanders in Iraq have been angling for of late -- saying he is sensing greater openness on Capitol Hill to a more careful, deliberate withdrawal.

Rice said they told the allies that Bush's Iraq policies "have at their core an understanding of the fundamental importance of a stable Iraq to the stability of this region." Those concerns, she said, will be a priority for Bush as he awaits the upcoming report from commanders and officials in Iraq, due in September.

During a joint press conference at this luxurious Red Sea resort, the two Cabinet secretaries also said their double-barreled show of diplomatic and military support for friendly Arab allies this week is not a shot across Iran's bow.

"We are out here to talk about the long term," Gates said as he and Rice began two days of meetings among Persian Gulf allies and Egypt. Gates noted that U.S. relationships in the Gulf and beyond predate the current unease over Iran's ambitions and influence.

If Iran perceives the joint visit and U.S. overtures differently, "that's in the eye of the beholder," Gates said.

The defense secretary also said that in the last few weeks he has heard more sounds of caution from lawmakers when talking about how the U.S. will eventually leave Iraq.

"While there are still strong advocates clearly of withdrawal, some of withdrawing very quickly, what I have begun to hear is more and more undertones, even from those who oppose the president's policies," of the need to consider the consequences of a policy change and "the dangers inherent in doing it unwisely," said Gates.

A number of his commanders in Iraq have made similar pleas for patience and caution in recent weeks, saying that while they believe the recent buildup of U.S. forces has begun to have an effect, they need more time to ensure the momentum does not reverse.

Gates and Rice made a rare joint tour of key Arab friends to renew long-standing pleas for more regional support for Iraq's struggling government. Many of the largely Sunni Arab states regard Iraq's Shiite-led government with suspicion, and have dragged their feet on fulfilling pledges of financial and other aid.

The crux of the argument Bush's advisers are making is that the ripple effects of chaos and failure in oil-rich Iraq would make it worth the allies' risk to get involved.

The duo -- who traveled together late Tuesday on Gates plan from Egypt to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah -- wrapped up sessions with nine allies in Egypt with no new specific promises of help, but Rice said she heard the right expressions of support after a gathering of several nations listed as recipients of an expanded aid and weapons package for friendly states in the region.

Iraq's Arab neighbors repeated a general pledge to promote stability in Iraq, torn by more than four years of war and bitter sectarian divisions that have killed thousands and driven far more from their homes.

While they won no specific new promises of Arab help for struggling Iraq on Tuesday, Rice said she heard the right expressions of support after a gathering of several nations listed as recipients of an expanded aid and weapons package for friendly states in the region.

"I think we know what the obligations of the neighbors are," Rice said, adding that Egypt and other U.S. allies are working to meet past promises of relief for Iraq's heavy international debt, additional foreign aid and help tamping down violence inside Iraq.

A statement issued after a nine-nation meeting promised only "to continue to support Iraq and expand their financial and political support," and restated a general commitment to blocking would-be terrorists and financing that supports them from entering Iraq.

"The ... commitment was always to help a united Iraq to reach that point of full stability, and that we have been trying to do over the last four years," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said after the meeting.

Rice and Gates were making a rare joint show of diplomatic force during two days of meetings with Arab allies -- part of an 11th-hour effort to rally diplomatic and practical help for the U.S.-backed Shiite-led government in Baghdad. The tour also opens talks on a proposed U.S. arms package for Arab states worth more than $20 billion.

The Cabinet secretaries are also trying to solidify what the U.S. sees as a bulwark of generally moderate Arab states against an increasingly ambitious and unpredictable Iran.

"We have also been calling for the noninterference of any foreign powers into Iraq," Aboul Gheit said. "That is something we would renew."

The Bush administration also proposed a more than 25 percent increase in military aid to Israel over the next 10 years, an effort to balance the deal with Arab countries.

Contending that the increase of defense aid to Israel would "initiate a dangerous armament race in the region," Syria's foreign minister on Tuesday said the proposal goes against Bush's call for an international Mideast peace conference.

"Anyone who wants to be an honest broker of the peace process must not be biased toward a party and isolate another party in the peace process," Walid al-Moallem told reporters at a news conference in Damascus.