After lunch, Gates told the committee he wanted to amplify on his morning remark about not winning in Iraq. He said he did not want US troops to think he believes they are being unsuccessful in their assigned missions.

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"Our military wins the battles that we fight," Gates said. "Where we're having our challenges, frankly, are in the areas of stabilization and political developments and so on." He said other federal agencies should do more in Iraq.

Gates, a former director of the CIA, fielded questions with apparent ease, acknowledging at times that he simply did not know the answer or needed more time for study. He was armed with details, such as the exact US death count in Iraq (2,889 as of Monday, he said), and the number of extra troops NATO has been asked to provide in Afghanistan (2,500, he said).

There was little of the confrontational tone that sometimes emerged when the pricklier Rumsfeld testified before the same committee, which is responsible for overseeing the Defense Department.

If confirmed, Gates said, he planned to visit US commanders and troops in Iraq "quite soon."

Gates, 63, said he believes Bush wants to see Iraq improve to the point where it can govern and defend itself, while seeking a new approach. "What we are now doing is not satisfactory," Gates said.

On other high-priority subjects, Gates said:

- He worries about the prospect of growing Iranian influence in Iraq.

- He would be open to the idea of direct talks with Iran and Syria about stabilizing Iraq.

- He is uncertain whether the Army and Marine Corps need to expand, as many in Congress advocate.

- He is "sympathetic to the notion" of adding more US or allied troops in Afghanistan.

At the White House, press secretary Tony Snow was pressed by reporters about Gates' remark that the US is not winning in Iraq. Snow said Gates' overall testimony showed he shares Bush's view that the US must help Iraq govern and defend itself.

"I know you want to pit a fight between Bob Gates and the president, it doesn't exist," Snow told reporters.

Gates said he came to some of his conclusions during his time on the Iraqi Study Group, but he did not say what information or testimony in that process led him.

Asked whether announcing a specific troop withdrawal timetable would send a signal of US weakness, he said it "would essentially tell (the insurgents) how long they have to wait until we're gone."

Gates also expressed concern about political divisions in Iraq. Unless the dominant Shiite faction shows a new willingness to share power and national wealth with the minority Sunnis and Kurds, then the country will fracture, and "it will not be long before we have a government in Baghdad that is as hostile as the one in Tehran," he said.

Much of the questioning from panel members focused on whether Gates was committed to providing unvarnished advice to Bush. He assured the committee he would not shirk from that duty.

He said he did not give up his position as president of Texas A&M University and return to Washington to "be a bump on a log."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a likely 2008 presidential candidate and an advocate of increasing US troop strength in Iraq, asked whether Gates believes the US had too few troops at the outset of the war in 2003.

"I suspect in hindsight some of the folks in the administration would not make the same decisions they made," including the number of troops in Iraq to establish control after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Gates said.

"Our course over the next year or two will determine whether the American and Iraqi people and the next president of the United States will face a slowly but steadily improving situation in Iraq and in the region or will face the very real risk, and possible reality, of a regional conflagration," Gates said.

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