WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The United States may have to adopt more realistic expectations for Iraq, President George W. Bush's choice to become the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East said on Tuesday. Joining other senior U.S. government and military officials in recent months who have said the United States is not winning in Iraq, Adm. William Fallon told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee: "What we've been doing is not working." As head of U.S. Central Command, Fallon would have overall responsibility for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He would oversee Bush's new plan to stabilize Iraq, which involves the deployment of more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops. "Going back to 2003, we had hundreds of good ideas of things that we would like to see in Iraq that are more reflective of the kind of society and process that we enjoy here," Fallon said. "And it seems to me that we probably erred in our assessment of the ability of these people to take on all of these tasks at the same time," he told the committee, meeting to consider his nomination. "Maybe we ought to redefine the goals here a bit and do something that's more realistic in terms of getting some progress and then maybe take on the other things later," he said. In the lead-up to and after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, U.S. officials spoke of creating a new Iraq which could serve as a beacon of democracy for the entire Middle East. Fallon, the current head of the U.S. military's Pacific Command, said he wanted to get an assessment from diplomats and other government experts on what was possible to achieve in Iraq. If confirmed by the Senate, Fallon would take over Central Command from Army Gen. John Abizaid, who is retiring.
