Another reminder: I’ve heard the impact of these releases on our foreign policy described as a meltdown, as a game-changer, and so on. I think – I think those descriptions are fairly significantly overwrought. The fact is, governments deal with the United States because it’s in their interest, not because they like us, not because … Continue reading The Immense Sanity Of Robert Gates
Money quote from Robert Gates' speech to West Point cadets:
"In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,' as General MacArthur so delicately put it."
So Rummy was crazy as well as incompetent? Stephen Walt runs with this:
Another supporter who sees the key rationale: Leading Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller and Dianne Feinstein have already criticized the choice of Panetta, claiming the CIA needs to be led by an experienced intelligence professional. But right now political clout, and the ability to be a strong advocate for the CIA, far … Continue reading Robert Baer On Panetta
Steve Clemons has a theory: He wants to try and push Iran-US relations into a constructive direction. He wants to change the game in Afghanistan — and the answer will not be a military-dominant strategy. He wants to try and stabilize Iraq in a negotiated, confidence building process that includes Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and … Continue reading Why Is Gates Staying?
From the WSJ, confirmation of a proposal made by the Dish months ago: President-elect Barack Obama is leaning toward asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remain in his position for at least a year, according to two Obama advisers. A senior Pentagon official said Mr. Gates would likely accept the offer if it is made.
Marc rounds-up the CW around potential appointments in an Obama administration. I’ve long touted this idea: Robert Gates — almost everyone inside the Beltway believes he’ll be asked to stay on as SecDef as the transition into Afghanistan and out of Iraq is managed; he’s played the politics deftly. Does Obama appoint a strong number … Continue reading Gates To The Future
Jacob Heilbrunn deflates McCain's hyperbole:
Does McCain have it right? Are Mitt Romney and others flinching from the freedom crusade? And does that make them isolationists? What is really taking place in the GOP is a showdown between the neoconservative view of the world that has dominated the party—a Wilsonian freedom crusade—and the more traditional view of using American military power in a restrained fashion—much as Defense Secretary Robert Gates is advocating. Gates has, of course, conveyed his deep unease about the idea of further wars of choice. Does McCain think Gates is representative of an isolationist strain as well?
Larison blames an absurd definition of isolationism for the confusion, and sees the problem as bigger than McCain:
Ambinder reports on the Obama administration's decision-making process:
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton consulted with allies in the Middle East and reported back that none thought the release of the photos would be in their interests. She and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also worried that the images would provoke anti-American violence at embassies, consulates, and military bases overseas. … Accounting for the morbid curiosity of human beings, there is little appetite, outside the media and some political elites, for the photos.
Really? Let's say that that doesn't jibe with my view of human nature. A reader writes:
Weren't the SEALS wearing audio visual equipment on their helmets? Would it be possible for the administration to release a still photo from this set showing an alive bin Laden? I don't think that anyone really doubts that whoever was there was killed, so seeing that he was actually there would be enough.
Another writes:
by Conor Friedersdorf
Here's Will Wilkinson commenting on former generals going to work for defense contractors:
America's drawn-out wars abroad are stupendously expensive. The stupendous expense of course attracts profit-seeking firms rather like sharks to blood. And the wars are so drawn out in part because, as Mr Fallows and Robert Gates suggest, there's nothing concrete at stake for most Americans. Like the hum of an air conditioner, after a while, one simply stops noticing the wars are there, much less that many billions of taxpayer dollars are thereby making some private citizens immensely rich.
However, I don't think we ought to overlook the extent to which the rise of military corporatism (or is it corporatist militarism?) has been helped by the public-relations victories of the ideological advocates of American supremacy at Fox News, the Weekly Standard, and the Washington Post op-ed page.
Joseph Christopher Rocha, Former Petty Officer Third Class, U.S. Navy, writes a letter to the President:
After the recent letter by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recommended the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” be delayed, this is my plea to you on the behalf of the soldiers serving in silence to end this law now:
I never wanted anything more in my life than to be a career officer. My entire childhood I was exposed to abuse, violence, and crime. I came out of it all with a simple, yet overwhelming desire to serve. When my first attempt at getting into the Naval Academy failed, I waited restlessly until I turned eighteen. I enlisted on my birthday and set off to prove myself to the Academy. I was eager to leave the cruelty of my past and join a true family.
I knew I was gay, but it was irrelevant to me then. I was determined to join an elite team of handlers working with dogs trained to detect explosives. As I studied hard to pass exams and complete training, I was convinced that the current law would protect me. I knew that based on merit and achievement I would excel in the military. was gay. But a year and a half later while serving in the Middle East, I was tormented by my chief and fellow sailors, physically and emotionally, as they had their suspicions. The irony of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is that it protects bigots and punishes gays who comply.
Shop talk in the unit revolved around sex, either the prostitute-filled parties of days past or the escapades my comrades looked forward to. They interpreted my silence and total lack of interest as an admission of homosexuality. My higher-ups seemed to think that gave them the right to bind me to chairs, ridicule me, hose me down and lock me in a feces-filled dog kennel.
On one day in the Middle East, I was ordered by a superior to get down on my hands and knees and simulate oral sex on a person working in the kennel. We were supposed to pretend that we were in our bedroom and that the dogs were catching us in the act. Over and over, with each of the dogs in our unit, I was forced to endure this scenario.
I told no one about what I was living through. I feared that reporting the abuse would lead to an investigation into my sexuality. Frankly, as we continue to delay the repeal of this horrible law, I can’t help but wonder how many people find themselves in similar, despicable situations and remain silent. My anger today doesn’t come from the abuse, but rather from the inhumanity of a standing law that allowed for it.
The Dish 