"The lessons learned with the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction and some of the other things that happened will make any future president very, very cautious about launching that kind of conflict or relying on intelligence," Gates told PBS television in an interview.

Any future president is "going to ask a lot of very hard questions and I think that hurdle is much higher today than it was six or seven years ago," he said.

His comments came in response to questions about the lessons of the Iraq conflict and the controversial "Bush doctrine," which asserts the right to take preemptive action to prevent a terrorist strike.

In the run-up to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration argued the regime's alleged weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat. But no WMD stockpiles were ever found.

"I think one of the biggest lessons learned in this, is if you are going to contemplate preempting an attack, you had better be very confident of the intelligence that you have," he said.

Gates, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said that stricter criteria -- including more reliable intelligence -- would have to be met before taking preemptive military action.

"I think that the barrier first of all will be are we going to be attacked here at home. As one of the thresholds," he said. "And then the quality of intelligence would be another."

Appearing on the "Tavis Smiley show," Gates also said the previous administration -- which he joined in 2006 -- made a serious mistake in planning for what it believed would be a "very quick, largely conventional conflict."

The previous administration believed "Saddam would be put out of power and then the situation turned back to the Iraqis themselves," he said.

"I think most people would agree that there was clearly inadequate planning for the situation not turning out that way, and for us to be involved for a protracted period of time," he said.

"I think that was one of the biggest mistakes that was made. I think we just didn't anticipate at the time that this could be a protracted counter-insurgency kind of challenge and it clearly turned out to be that."

The defense secretary said he believed the US military had learned hard lessons from the Iraq experience and that he wanted to ensure counter-insurgency skills gained there would become a permanent part of training and doctrine.

Gates -- reappointed to his position by President Barack Obama -- was brought in to the Pentagon by Bush following the tumultuous tenure of Donald Rumsfeld, widely criticized for his handling of the war and insistence on a small US invasion force.

Gates said with violence dramatically down, the situation had markedly improved in Iraq, allowing for the gradual withdrawal of US troops.

"I think clearly the war in Iraq is in a better place than it was when I took this job and I think I've had some part in that," he said when asked what he had been able to accomplish in his two years in the job.

Gates added that many others could take credit for the progress in Iraq, "especially (General David) Petraeus" -- the mastermind behind counter-insurgency efforts.

He said there was no link between recent insurgent attacks in Iraq and Obama's decision last month to withdraw most combat troops out of Iraq by the end of August, 2010.

"I don't think that there is a correlation between the president's announcement and the spike in violence," he said.

"I think it's tied more to the successful completion of the provincial elections and Al-Qaeda trying to disrupt the positive impact that the elections had around the country."

Gates said the war in Afghanistan, where 17,000 US reinforcements are due to deploy over the next several months, was now his "biggest challenge" as defense secretary.

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