U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Edward A. Rice Jr., commander of U.S. Forces Japan, greets Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates upon his arrival in Tokyo at Haneda Airport, Oct. 20, 2009. Gates is in Japan to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa. DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry MorrisonFrom The Christian Science Monitor:
Pentagon chief Robert Gates is the swing vote in Obama's decision on the Afghanistan war.
On one of Bob Gates's first trips to the Iraq war theater after accepting the job as Defense secretary in 2006, he walked a dusty "boneyard" in Kuwait filled with row upon row of the remains of military trucks damaged by roadside bombs and seemed to hear the ghosts of the soldiers the trucks had failed to protect.
The vehicles, recalls a senior adviser who accompanied Mr. Gates, "looked like they'd been mangled by the hand of a giant child." The shredded metal seemed to be a reminder of the billions the Pentagon was spending on the war while failing to adequately protect its own troops – and Gates was intensely moved. Mary Beth Long, the official accompanying him that day, jotted down just two words about her boss: "silent" and "determined."
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My Comment: It seems that every few weeks there is a "puff piece" on Secretary of Defense Gates .... I guess it is the Christian Science Monitor's turn this time around.
But this is actually a good profile, and it gives an insight into Robert Gates' past experiences and observations. Read it all.
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