Posted on 12/05/2006 10:10:32 AM PST by jveritas
Based on what on what Defense Secretary nominee Mr. Gates has said so far in the Senate confirmation hearings, it is easy to conclude that he is a “Defeatist”. No matter how tough the situation is in Iraq he must not say in public that we are not winning the war in Iraq. That is totally demoralizing to our troops and will further embolden our enemies there like Al Qaeda, Iran, and Syria. Moreover the man has shown extreme ambiguity and uncertainty in his answers to many questions.
I doubt very much that he told the President that we are not winning in Iraq or else the President would not have nominated him. It may be too late to withdraw his nomination now, but our country and most importantly our brave troops deserve a better person to be the Secretary of Defense.
Anyway I see your point. Even if a Gates has to wiggle his way to get the nomination, there is some limit on how he far he should go in this type of tactics so he can get the confirmation.
I appreciate all of your expertise and concern but the liberals ran Rumsfeld out of town. I hope that Gates has the will to finish this fight and to do what really needs to be done in Iraq and in the WOT. Don't lose heart because of what the media sensationalizes.
As long as we have our President and the only Commander in Chief believes in the right cause and has the strong will to stay, fight, and win this war, and as long as we have our brave troops fighting there, I will never lose heart.
I am sure that is what he is being hired for and why he will be confirmed.
I disagree that this is the reason of being hired. In fact the White House gave him a call during a launch break to correct his earlier, false, and stupid statement that “we are not winning in Iraq”. He kind of did that correction later on in the hearing after he came from the break, but I am still very worried about this guy.
George Bush doesn't like black people.
(that's what that headline reminded me of.)
I am most decidedly not convinced.
What are you talking about?
Unfortunately he painted himself AND us into a corner.
If we leave Iraq and the Ayatollahs are still in power in Iran and the Baathists are still in power in Syria, it will be WORSE than if we hadn't gone in there in the first place.
Bush's mistake was trying to "civlize" Iraq. We should have taken out Iran and Syria, then pulled out and left the Euroweenies or the U.N. to pick up the pieces.
"I am still very worried about this guy."
Well, Gates went through like he was on rails ... they're recommending confirmation. And tomorrow, the report.
"President Bush. Great President or greatEST President?"
- Stephen Colbert
Who cares what Stephen Colbert says? He's a puke of a person who contributes nothing of value.
The headline "Defense Secretary Nominee Gates Is A Defeatist" reminded me of the flat black & white declaration that Kanye West made last year that "George Bush Doesn't Like Black People", and is probably just as much of a truism as that statement.
Well Said! We don't need 2-20 more years of this!
It is silly to let everything turn on sentiment. We need respect, not affection or gratitude. Iraq has probably the largest untapped oil reserves in the Middle East. Do we want these to be exploited by the likes of the Iranians?
What we have been trying to do is to keep the country unified, to keep it from breaking up into parts. The hope was that the three main factions could share power in the central government. One of these parties, the Sunni, refused to go along. Instead they supported, or at least harbored the enemies of the new state. Something similar to Northern Ireland happened. where the IRA would accept nothing except unification with the South. Catholics in the North have never repudicated the IRA, and the Protestants are equally adamant not to share power with the Catholics.
"and Gates did not say we are losing. He said we're neither winning nor losing"
Sigh... We are now at the point where the former Iraqi Minister of Information is not looking too bad, by comparison....
Mark Levin said today (on his radio show) that it appears the report is not cut-and-run.
Of course not. Iran must be crushed and Syria should have a similar fate.
I understand all that, Robby, but this is not wnat we signed up for.
Get Sadamm and the WMD, and get out. That's what our guys (sorry, I hate PC) were told before and during.
We WON the war.
I believed that our President would know better than to try to civilize these Arabs in Iraq or any other Muslim country in the ME.
Sorry...
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