The World

By Daniel Dombey

Yesterday, we were in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where US defence secretary Robert Gates attended an American Legion convention that provided Americana galore.

There were cap-wearing veterans, a singalong medley of patriotic songs (with a Wurlitzer accompaniment) and an appearance by a sharp-shooting young woman who won the greying Legionnaires’ hearts by labelling them America’s future leaders.

Today, we are busy with another, much more controversial part of America’s military legacy – Iraq. Flying unannounced to the country as ever, we went by helicopter to Ramadi, once a seat of the insurgency, and travelled over a vast desert seemingly drained of all colour. Only when the Euphrates shimmered into view were there signs of life.
The difference in locale could hardly be greater. While there may have been moments of bathos in Milwaukee, the trip to Iraq has historic overtones – the official end of the US’s combat mission in the country.

And yet for the methodical Mr Gates it is all part of his normal work week, one in which he plugs away at his big goals – a “responsible” end to the war in Iraq, a push to turn the tide in Afghanistan and an attempt  to overhaul the Pentagon’s budget.

Wherever he goes he retains his softly spoken, methodical style, although when speaking about casualties in Iraq, he sometimes comes close to tears. Today, in Ramadi, he adds a personal note to the handover in Iraq, emphasising people close to him or his circle who have been killed or wounded in the country.

After Gates gives his speech at the military base, awards a purple heart award, and poses for photos with every last soldier who attended, we head for Baghdad. There we in the press corps wait in a lakeside lodge with Saddam Hussein’s initials marked in purple on the ceiling, before going to the ceremony marking the change in the US military mission in Iraq from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn.

This takes place in a much grander palace – with attendees including Joe Biden, US vice-president, Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gates himself – but is a relatively intimate affair. There are only a few hundred attendees, among them a scattering of Iraqi officials.

The event is an attempt to close the chapter on the seven years war in Iraq – with full knowledge that circumstances could still deteriorate once again.

And indeed there is a marked difference in tone between General Ray Odierno, the departing US commander in Iraq, and Gen Lloyd Austin, his replacement.

Gen Odierno, who has spent 40 of the past 47 months in Iraq, makes clear his belief that the war has been worthwhile. “I remember it as a time in which the Iraqi people stood up against tyranny, terrorism and extremism and decided to make their own destiny as a people and as a democratic state,” he says. “A degree of normalcy that was previously hijacked by an Iraqi dictator and al-Qaida has been reclaimed.”

Gen Austin sounds very different. “Success will require a comprehensive and coherent approach by all the US government entities, international organisations and the Iraqi government,” he says – a much more technocratic note.

Daniel Dombey, the FT’s US diplomatic correspondent, blogs from Iraq, where Robert Gates, US defence secretary, has begun a trip to mark the end of the US combat mission in the country.