Posted on 11/08/2006 3:36:27 PM PST by MadIvan
Robert Gates, the 63-year-old career intelligence officer chosen to replace Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, takes over with the clearest of missions: get American troops out of Iraq as quickly and cleanly as possible.
Mr Gates was, subject to Congressional approval, propelled into the top ranks of the Bush Administration today as Secretary of Defence only hours after voters handed President Bush what he agreed himself was a "thumping" in mid-term elections.
The deeply unpopular Mr Rumsfeld, seen by his enemies as a reckless warmonger and attacked even by senior military officers for strategic blunders, was the obvious scapegoat for the electoral meltdown. Since the invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, more than 2,800 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq.
Although Mr Bush told a White House press conference this afternoon that Mr Rumsfeld's departure should not be taken as a signal that America would be withdrawing from Iraq, he made it clear that the former CIA director had not been chosen as continuity candidate.
The President freely admitted that his Iraq policy was "not working well enough, fast enough" and needed new leadership.
Although Mr Gates is currently serving as president of Texas A&M University, he has been active recently as a member of the Iraq Study Group led by James Baker, the Bush family confidant and former Secretary of State.
That Group has yet to report, but its draft recommendations have been widely leaked and amount to a radical reshaping of US Iraq policy that would have been unthinkable a year ago - including a large reduction of US troop levels and a diplomatic push to engage Iraq's neighbours, including Iran and Syria.
The Group has also pushed for the Iraqi Government to take more responsibility for its own affairs, politically and militarily.
Since those recommendations have not been formally given to the White House, Mr Bush has not had to accept or reject them. But the Administration has noticeably changed its language on Iraq - Mr Bush no longer speaks of "staying the course" for example - and Mr Rumsfeld's departure allows the unthinkable to become policy.
And it would be unthinkable for Mr Bush to appoint his new Pentagon chief from among the group's members if he did not agree with their conclusions.
Born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1943, Mr Gates joined the CIA in 1966 and rose from working-level officer to become its director, also serving as a member of the National Security Council.
He was first nominated as CIA director in 1987 by Ronald Reagan but withdrew amid questions over his and the CIA’s role in the secret sales of arms to Iran and the diversion of profits to Nicaragua’s Contra rebels - the accusation against him being that he hid the truth about the Iran-Contract affair from Congress.
He was nominated again by the first President Bush and led the CIA from 1991 to 1993.
Mr Bush described him today as "a steady, solid leader who can help make the necessary adjustments in our approach to meet our current challenges".
Air Force and CIA analyst.
I hope Mr. Gates is successful, but the reason things are difficult in Iraq, and the reason that Liberals are on the peace offensive, is exactly the same reason.
While the media works triple overtime pointing the finger at President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, the core problem in Iraq is that the Iraqi people themselves are an extremely violent bunch. They always have been and they always will be. It is unlikely Mr. Gates will be able to fix that. Only the Iraqi government can really address that and their best bet is to exercise total domination (read: total violence) over the enemy. Its the only thing the enemy actually understands. Exiting Iraq with any sortt of grace virtually requires it.
The point is this: Its time we start blaming the real source of this problem... the Iraqi people, Sunni's in particular. While there are many good Iraqi people, there are also hordes of them ready to kill or die at a moments notice. I'll no doubt get flamed for this, but I don't care. Political correctness has gotten us nowhere with these people.
Is this another BRILLANT MOVE by President George Bush??? Replacing the liberal hated Rove with someone else thus forcing them to VOTE for the new guy or KEEP the hated ROVE?????
I SAY BRILLANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Could some of you spare time to go to Kristinn's Gold Star Families in Iraq thread...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1734425/posts
They could use our support now.
P. S. - This is, incidentally, intended to specifically increase the cries for British troops to be removed from Iraq. This son of a bitch is nothing more than an agent for Islamic terrorists.
Regards, Ivan
bttt
As a short term solution I think Maliki, at our urging, will implement "martial law" in Baghdad and the Anbar Province very soon. It won't be the answer, but it will be a start to achieving some sort of calm. Bush and Gate's new approach is contained in the Baker Report, and I'm sure it will recommend some sort of direct negotiations with Tehran and Damascus over Iraq. It will also urge direct negotiations with Tehran over their nukes.
"O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs."
Hey, that's amazing. I just didn't realize...
(Will we see spelling go down the drain with multiplication tables?) LOL
Long overdue.
Victory has been met. Ask Iran. Ask Syria...hamas, hizbullah, al aqsa... they are now the victors, and the "american-coward-dog" is running home with her tail between her legs.
Sure you can close out of iraq. What about afghanistan? They will see the american interests going home and want to do the same.
Now they have total and absolute victory
Allah akber... did I get that right? Coming to America
And they did. Just take a look at the thread. I'm hoping he's for putting the Iraqi's more in charge because they seem to be the only one's who are allowed to be brutal with the enemy.
Some see a conspiracy behind the defeat.
Others think Bush wanted to lose the election
My personal favorites are that the Democrats are going to open reeducation camps for all Republicans, get rid of Rush Limbaugh, and then make Pelosi President by killing Bush and Cheney.
Why don't we all just commit mass suicide and save ourselves the suffering? /sarcasm
You forgot one important detail: Kurdistan will be independant.
So what are the Iraqis going to do in response.
Nancy P and Murtha say they want this to spur the Iraqi govt into action to take over security faster.
Might this just panic them for the Iranian Shia and or Al Qaeda exits?
I mean, if they don't want to be left behind, might they not as well start making friends with those who will be left behind...?
)-;
This kind of thing needs to be broadcast far and wide to preempt Murtha's cut-n-run.
Got a link to the source I can forward?
And once again we will leave with the job undone. How disgusting.
This Gates guy is a bureaucrat. Rummie suffered for shaking up DOD w/ force reallignment; priority of making our resources smaller and more efficient. God bless him too for his courageous engagement in the war on terror. His best attribute was a sense of history with a thick skin.
GWB is tired. He is listening to his Dad's advisors. Which means his two remaining years will be a mediocre stewardship. Which would be OK if our enemies were not so passionately lethal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.