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Defense Secretary Nominee Gates is a Defeatist
December 5th 2006 | jveritas

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.


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; bush; gates; iran; iraq; syria; wot
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To: jveritas

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.


41 posted on 12/05/2006 10:24:31 AM PST by GregH
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To: RexBeach
I can tell you this, Chruchill sure as hell didn't say the UK was losing the war during the Blitz. That's the point. Mr. Gates just laid a very big egg with regard to American morale in Iraq; and he just gave the terrorists a reason to cheer.

and Gates did not say we are losing. He said we're neither winning nor losing.

42 posted on 12/05/2006 10:25:12 AM PST by Omega Man II
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To: Jim 0216
All we need is the WILL to win

I have some liberal friends who say the same thing when I point out that the War on Poverty was doomed to failure.

43 posted on 12/05/2006 10:25:32 AM PST by Austin Willard Wright
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To: RedRover
President Bush is a Lincoln surrounded by McClellans. Where have you gone, William Tecumseh Sherman?

LOL! You meant, I believe, he's a Jefferson Davis surrounded by by Grants...because Bush is no Lincoln (more like a Yugo)!

44 posted on 12/05/2006 10:25:34 AM PST by meandog (These are the times that try men's souls!)
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To: Terpfen
Less knee jerking, please.

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.

45 posted on 12/05/2006 10:25:37 AM PST by Racehorse (Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.)
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To: jveritas

The troops will be able to spend Christmas '07 with their families. Good for them.


46 posted on 12/05/2006 10:26:12 AM PST by GraniteStateConservative (...He had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here...-- Worst.President.Ever.)
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To: jveritas

Maybe its his idea of a "Win one for the Gipper" half-time speach.


47 posted on 12/05/2006 10:26:16 AM PST by Don Corleone (Leave the gun..take the cannoli)
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To: Lunatic Fringe
Unfortunately, the two best teams in the country are NOT playing for the National Championship this year (OSU and Michigan).

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.

48 posted on 12/05/2006 10:27:03 AM PST by traditional1
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To: jveritas
Time will tell. But I think he has to sound like a defeatist in order to be confirmed by defeatists........
49 posted on 12/05/2006 10:27:13 AM PST by b4its2late (Liberalism is a hollow log and a mental disorder.)
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To: jveritas

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.


50 posted on 12/05/2006 10:27:19 AM PST by Omega Man II
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To: Jim 0216
We can certainly win in Iraq. All we need is the WILL to win. Resources and winning strategies would follow.

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.

51 posted on 12/05/2006 10:27:39 AM PST by Alter Kaker ("Whatever tears one sheds, in the end one always blows one's nose." - Heine)
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To: Alter Kaker; jveritas
This guy was on the Baker-Hamilton Commission.

Don't you mean the Baker-Hamilton-Chamberlain Commission?

52 posted on 12/05/2006 10:28:26 AM PST by jdm
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To: Austin Willard Wright

I'm amazed at the people who think it's going well.


53 posted on 12/05/2006 10:30:21 AM PST by mgstarr
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To: GraniteStateConservative

And the terrorists will spending Christmas 08 with us here in the US.


54 posted on 12/05/2006 10:30:57 AM PST by jveritas (Support The Commander in Chief in Times of War)
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To: Austin Willard Wright
Right, but the liberals only have losing strategies, whether its in war or economics. Reagan showed us how to win the War on Poverty through less taxes, less government, and more freedom in the marketplace. FDR's New Deal and Johnson's Great Society created poverty.
55 posted on 12/05/2006 10:31:34 AM PST by Jim W N
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To: Jim 0216

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.


56 posted on 12/05/2006 10:31:51 AM PST by Alter Kaker ("Whatever tears one sheds, in the end one always blows one's nose." - Heine)
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To: Lunatic Fringe

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!!


57 posted on 12/05/2006 10:32:01 AM PST by Maringa
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To: Lunatic Fringe

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.


58 posted on 12/05/2006 10:32:27 AM PST by rhombus
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To: jveritas

"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.


59 posted on 12/05/2006 10:33:02 AM PST by Shermy
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To: jveritas
President bush would have never lead us into a war which we could not win. Therefore, we will not lose this war.
60 posted on 12/05/2006 10:33:53 AM PST by trumandogz (Rudy G 2008: The "G" Stands For Gun Grabbing & Gay Lovin.)
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