15 December 2008: Fox News
BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Defense Secretary Gates says the Persian Gulf will be a major concern for the incoming Obama administration, and he is warning potential adversaries not to test the new president. Gates brought what he called a message of continuity and commitment to leaders of gulf nations attending a security conference in Bahrain. But correspondent Dana Lewis reports many in the region remain wary.
DANA LEWIS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American CENTCOM general, David Petraeus, got an earful from leaders of gulf countries here. In private meetings with Petraeus and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, sources say many gulf leaders expressed concerns about America's shift in focus away from Iraq to Afghanistan.
MAMOUN FANDY, IISS PERSIAN GULF EXPERT: It's a fear, but politics is perception and these people perceive that the Americans are no longer giving them the assurances, the security assurances they need.
LEWIS: So in a question and answer session, Petraeus who has been saying progress in Iraq is fragile, suddenly pronounced Iraq is not as fragile as it was even a month ago.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, US CENTRAL COMMAND: There is no way to describe what has happened when you go from 180 attacks per day in June of 2007, 180 attacks per day to an average of 10 attacks per day actually the last three weeks.
LEWIS: There is no question American commanders are distracted by Afghanistan where security has deteriorated. A week ago, critical American and NATO supply compounds were attacked and burned in Pakistan.
Now NATO is looking north to both purchase and move weapons, food, and fuel through countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and even across Russia, perhaps within a matter of weeks.
PETRAEUS: The supply line issues in Pakistan are quite serious. There are at least two countries, Germany and one other, who do bring materials through Russia.
LEWIS: NATO was already asking Russia to use its railroads, and it seems ready to say yes.
MICHAEL MARGELOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CMTE: If the relations between NATO and Russia are positive, I cannot exclude the inland transportation.
LEWIS: American officials reveal one brigade of 3,500 soldiers from 10th mountain division set to move into Afghanistan in January to beef up existing forces is already flowing into the country, part of a 20,000 U.S. troop increase. But the secretary of defense says he is worried about the eventual size of the American footprint.
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We ought to think long and hard about how many more go in.
LEWIS: Afghanistan's national security chief here said reconciliation talks with the Taliban must proceed. But looming over Iraq and Afghanistan and the entire gulf region is Iran, which is playing a major role in destabilizing the region as it pursues its nuclear program. The gulf wants in on talks with Iran.
(on camera): But if anyone is suddenly expecting that Iran will start becoming a better neighbor in the gulf, stop funding terror or give up its nuclear ambitions, one bad sign may be it didn't even come here to the security conference. In fact, it boycotted, adding to the growing anxiety about insecurity in the gulf.
In Manama, Bahrain, Dana Lewis, FOX News.
