Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has played a central role in reshaping defense policy. Doug Mills/The New York TimesA Pragmatist, Gates Reshapes Policy He Backed -- New York Times
WASHINGTON — On his tenth day on the job, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates signed off on an ambitious if politically charged plan to build a new missile shield in Europe. Just two weeks later, he supported an even more wrenching decision to send additional American troops to Iraq, into a war that was not going well.
That was nearly three years, one president and a political lifetime ago. Now serving Barack Obama instead of George W. Bush, Mr. Gates just recommended jettisoning his own missile defense program in favor of a reformulated version and once again is wrestling with whether to send more troops abroad, in this case to Afghanistan.
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My Comment: Talk about a puff piece. Shhheeesshhhh ....
The best paragraph in this piece was the following ....
In his new memoir, Matt Latimer, a Pentagon speechwriter under Mr. Gates’s predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, compares Mr. Gates to the Harvey Keitel character in “Pulp Fiction” — the one who shows up after the grisly killing to wipe away all traces of blood.
OK .... but in case anyone doubts that he is the man in charge, the following paragraph puts everything back into the proper perspective .....
Now that Mr. Gates has evolved from the clean-up guy to one of the most powerful members of the Obama cabinet, senior officials at the Pentagon have come up with their own nickname for him: “The Godfather.”
Godfather ....
Right now .... in the White House .... there are a bunch of guys in suits who are reading this and are saying .... no. He is not the Godfather. The guy in the Oval Office is the Godfather.
But, Sec. of Defense Gates does have the ear of the president, and as long as he does his bidding I expect Robert Gates to serve for as long as President Obama wishes him to serve.
Godfather .... now I have heard everything.
Update: I wrote this post last night. But upon reflection, there are two recent events that troubles me and the role that Sec. of Gates has played.
(1) The 180 degree change on missile defense in Europe was implemented in a manner that will cause problems with our European allies for years to come. Security and defense agreements with our allies have been broken without proper consultation or advice, a course of action that first started from Secretary Gate's office. The fallout from allies .... from our Japanese allies who wonder if they are next to have their missile defense agreements with the US canceled .... to our NATO and Middle East allies who are wondering if their agreements with the US can just be easily scrapped aside .... is having repercussions that will impact every foreign policy initiative that will come out from this White House.
The intelligence report that initiated this new course of action first came from Gate's office .... and because of that I have a number of questions on what is in this new assessment. Aside from some generalities .... no details on the how/what/who/when/why that came from this report have been offered or questioned. For such a major change in policy, there has been no consultation from Congress, no input from other services (the State Department comes to my mind), and more importantly .... little if any explanation from the White House.
(2) The McChrystal Afghan Assessment is a bombshell that keeps on giving. It is obvious that commanders in the field (or their allies) leaked this report because they are begging for help and support. I repeat .... American soldiers in a war zone are begging for help.
But the reaction from the White House (who have been sitting on this report since August) have been discouraging and disheartening to the extreme. But the reaction (or lack of) from Sec. of Defense Robert Gate's office has also been just as bad .... why .... your guess is as good as mine.
Godfather .... yeah right.
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