Grammar Pedantry

One of my biggest grammatical pet peeves is incorrect formation of the present perfect tense. For example, here's a quote from an AP story on a speech given by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates:

"Failure in Iraq would unleash sectarian strife and extremism and would be felt first in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday."

Since this is not a direct quote, it's not clear whether the grammatical error is due to the AP writer, or to Secretary Gates. But the error is a serious one; the present perfect tense is formed in English by using the auxiliary verb "have" or "has", not "would". The sentence should been written thus:

"Failure in Iraq has unleashed sectarian strife and extremism and has been felt first in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday."

The AP and Secretary Gates's speechwriter should take note of this for future speeches regarding conditions in Iraq.