Ok Plain and simple Bush appointed the man who canceled F22, supports gays in military, shrinking of DOD budget, cancellation of Missile Defense, shrinking of Navy, Gender neutral submarines, total destruction of US Navy command of the seas Vis-A-Vis pirates, and on and on, etc!
How many of those decisions were his and how many were his bosses?
Gates was the point man of the Realist-Pragmatist boarding party taking Bush's foreign policy away from the NeoCons. He went from being a member of the Iraq Study Group to Sec of Defense.
Here's a little tidbit for you, Gates worked for both Brzezinski under Carter and Scowcroft under GHW Bush.
Now, Brzezenski and Scowcroft, along with Henry Kissinger and James Baker are collectively known as Obama's Four Wise Old Men