Gates: Any def Sec supporting ground war in Mideast, Asia again should have head examined

[doodle]

Public officials tend to get more honest towards the end of their terms but this is way too blunt. Apparently this has sent Fox and CNN news executives into panic mode as they don't seem to know how to cover this bombshell.

Did US Secretary of Defense Gates just implied that Rimsfeld is not mentally fit and needs his head examined?

Second, has US just thrown the towel in the global ground war on terror?

George "bring it on" Bush, mentally shaky Rumsfeld or Cheney are not going to receive this assessment well:


By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / February 26, 2011

Gates's warning: Avoid land war in Asia, Middle East, and Africa

“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 [Douglas] MacArthur so delicately put it.”

In referring to Iraq and Afghanistan, as he did elsewhere in his speech to cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point Friday, Defense Secretary Gates was not directly critical of the man he replaced – Donald Rumsfeld – or of the Bush administration’s leading an invasion of Iraq now generally acknowledged to have been based on faulty reasoning, insufficient preparation, and – initially, at least – poor execution.


http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2011/0226/Gates-s-warning-Avoid-land-war-in-Asia-Middle-East-and-Africa



Future Defense Secretaries Pushing Ground War 'Should Have Their Heads Examined'

Lauren Finnegan Lauren Finnegan – Sat Feb 26, 3:57 pm ET


In his last speech to West Point Cadets as Secretary of Defense on Friday, Robert Gates warned the future Army officers of ever fighting a ground war like the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He went on to say that any future defense secretary that thinks fighting any other ground wars is a good idea, "should have his head examined." Gates also told the cadets they should get ready for the Army to lose a lot of funding from the government,

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110226/us_ac/7949718_future_defense_secretaries_pushing_ground_ war_should_have_their_heads_examined


This could raise questions about mental abilities of Obama too:



February 25, 2011 12:08 PM
U.S. leaving Afghan valley once thought key

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20036447-503543.html


It would be intresting to see if GOP now will go for Obama impeachment if he is not seen useful for escalating global wars.

[doodle]

Newt is raising prospects of Obama impeachment, but its not over throwing the towel in global war on terror bot over DOMA apparently:


Gingrich rips Obama on DOMA but denies call for impreachment
By Jordan Fabian - 02/25/11 04:28 PM ET

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/146201-gingrich-raises-specter-of-impeachment-for-obamas-doma-rebuke


But who knows.

[AZKing]

I other words, we should nuke em. ;)

[tangent4ronpaul]

That is really, really great news!

Except for one thing....

If they are throwing in the towel on fighting The GWoT over there, you know where they will focus on fighting it... :(

[LinusVanPelt]

Welcome to the mid-to-late 20th century, Mr Secretary.

[doodle]

This is interesting. Gates statement is being reported by many news outlets:

http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=gates+ground+war+mideast+asia+head+examined&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.1,or.&fp=3f40f95b1b9c7c0d

But no mention of it on Fox news and Drudge sites:

http://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy&hl=en&q=gates+ground+war+mideast+asia+head+examined+site :foxnews.com&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=gates+ground+war+mideast+asia+head+examined+sit e:foxnews.com&pbx=1&cad=cbv

Won't be surprised if a memo was issued by Fox news executives to staff to blackout this news. Drudge on war policy issues still seems to be in bed with neoconservatives.

[doodle]

That is really, really great news!

Except for one thing....

If they are throwing in the towel on fighting The GWoT over there, you know where they will focus on fighting it... :(

Yea, those "tea party terrorists" :)

[sailingaway]

well, that is where the psy ops comes in, right?

[Stary Hickory]

Yep finally this is being said. These wars have cost us more freedoms than anything else. They made the central government more powerful, ushered in a police state organization (DHS), led to a socialist/statist takeover of the Government, created the financial nightmare that is now just be exacerbated.

We need to get out now...and pull up stakes all over that region.

[HOLLYWOOD]

Secretary of Defense Gates: "We Need a New Nuclear Weapons Program started ASAP" cost: ($80 BILLION)

Secretary of Defense Gates: August 2010
When will Robert Gates go — one of Washington’s favorite parlor games — swung back in action Monday, when the defense secretary was quoted saying he plans to quit sometime next year.
Gates has cultivated the mystery by playing up just how much he wants to retire, but he told Foreign Policy (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/16/the_transformer) this week he wants to leave office in 2011. “I think that it would be a mistake to wait until January 2012,” he said.


What a coward... like in style of all the globalists/fascists. Well Sec. Gates is leaving soon and wants to be on the record of remembered what he said last. Political Pandering and Coverup 101.

[doodle]

Yea, there maybe be some opportunism by Gates here...or maybe he is finally reaching "enogh is enough" point now as his term nears end.

In that, one has to give marks to Rumsfeld for consistency, he still has no regrets over Iraq Abu Ghraib, WMD fiascos that are leading to US bankruptcy.

[Teaser Rate]

Am I the only one who thinks that's a bad message to send to the rest of the world ?

Mind you, I don't disagree with him, I just don't think that having the Secretary of Defense project this kind of weakness helps us diplomatically.

[doodle]

Am I the only one who thinks that's a bad message to send to the rest of the world ?

Mind you, I don't disagree with him, I just don't think that having the Secretary of Defense project this kind of weakness helps us diplomatically.

You are not the only one, this could be seen as a signal for retreat by rest of the world and embolden those who have been fighting us in ground wars of attrition ever since we occupied countries in mideast, asia. But it's not been a secret exactly that wars have not beeing going well. Perhaps SoD Gates has decided to drop all pretences as he gets closer to his exit.

[Yieu]

For once he says something that makes sense.

[Pericles]

There is a difference between saying we don't care what happens there, to saying that we don't want to be involved in any long term warfare in that region as doing so would run counter to our interests.

[tangent4ronpaul]

Very important part!


Gates also told the cadets they should get ready for the Army to lose a lot of funding from the government, as the future of any other conflicts would rest on the shoulders of the Air Force and the Navy, with air assaults and naval assaults being the primary forms of engagement that the military should use. The role of the Army and the Marines would change to responding to counterterrorism and rapid response missions, as well as to disaster relief around the world, Gates said.

[Pericles]

That ^ is the prediction from the guy who said we have not made any correct predictions in over 35 years.

[tangent4ronpaul]

"told the cadets they should get ready for the Army to lose a lot of funding from the government"

He's in a position to know.

[S.Shorland]

Ron has a real chance of winning imo.

[doodle]

Ron has a real chance of winning imo.

If GOP ran him against Obama, it is certainly a good possibility. But knowing GOP, they will probably try to find another "McCain".