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.
It is a poor choice of words but maybe he wants to get the nomination process done with and not blocked in the senate commitees.
and Gates did not say we are losing. He said we're neither winning nor losing.
I have some liberal friends who say the same thing when I point out that the War on Poverty was doomed to failure.
LOL! You meant, I believe, he's a Jefferson Davis surrounded by by Grants...because Bush is no Lincoln (more like a Yugo)!
Yep. That would be helpful.
I guess folks skipped over the part where Gates says the only way we'll lose is if we lose our national will. His duty is to win. Winning is defined as a stable Iraqi government which can provide for its own security.
The troops will be able to spend Christmas '07 with their families. Good for them.
Maybe its his idea of a "Win one for the Gipper" half-time speach.
The BCS system is broken, and Floriduh got in by default. Floriduh is lucky they don't have to play Rutgers, or they'd get their asses kicked in that one, too.
How is that defeatist?
Do you think Churchill claimed Britain was "winning" the war when Germany was bombing London? Of course not. But he sure as heck didn't give up either.
We can, but we won't if the US withdraws its troops. If the US withdraws prematurely, and Iraq becomes an Al Qaeda stronghold, then that will be Bush's legacy -- I'm afraid it will put Bush down in that circle of Presidential hell next to Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover and James Buchanan as well intentioned presidential disasters. Winning Iraq would make him a great President, losing makes him the worst. And it's up to him to sell the public.
Don't you mean the Baker-Hamilton-Chamberlain Commission?
I'm amazed at the people who think it's going well.
And the terrorists will spending Christmas 08 with us here in the US.
Sorry if that sounds defeatist, but the future of the world depends on what the United States does in Iraq in the next two years. As a resident of Israel, I am acutely aware of this. If cut-and-run is the new policy, as it appears to be, then God help us all.
The cut and run candidate for sec. of defense is proposing to cut and run before the cut and run Senate committe....There...three times in one sentence!!
This is a great quote by Bush. The funny thing is during the run up to the war in Iraq I remember all the Democrats demanding that we didn't just wreck the place and leave...that we "won the peace". In response statements like Powell's "you break it you buy it" were made in order to placate the Dems. If anyone pushed us into nation-building it was the Democrats as a condition for their support on Iraq. Nonetheless, I think the main goal is that we don't let Iran do the nation building. However that can be accomplished, I suppport.
"Defense Secretary Nominee Gates is a Defeatist"
REad between the lines. He body-slammed GW Bush when he told the story how bush the First told the military he'll give them anything they want for Gulf War I.
Rumsfeld and his light footprint/keep money flowing to Star Wars, etc. plolicy messed up Iraq and cost many American lives.
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