[SandRat]

FR WAR NEWS!

WAR News You'll Hear Nowhere Else!

All the News the MSM refuses to use!

[Nathan Zachary]

" Gates said Bush told him he wanted someone with “fresh eyes” to look at the situation in Iraq "

In that case, look for someone who has the optic nerves attached. Fresh eyes aren't worth a damn if the curtain is closed.

[Dilbert56]

The Howard Dean wing of the Democrat Party will be furious. They believe their victory last month means surrender was imminent. If the Wicked Witch of the West doesn't push for impeachment they will be apoplectic. Just raising the minimum wage isn't going to appease the Deaniac insurgents.

[FlyVet]

“I don’t owe anybody anything,...."

I might be a little skeptical about that remark.

[Popocatapetl]

One fact remains. Gates is a lifelong spook. Spooks and military just don't get along. They speak a different language and have different priorities.

This means that if Gates tries some antics like Jimmy Carter's draft-dodging Harold Brown, the Pentagon will just neuter him.

It doesn't matter what any President thinks or wants. You either get along with the Pentagon, or at least a big part of the Pentagon, or you are "little people."

[Intolerant in NJ]

Gates also said there were “clearly insufficient troops in Iraq after the initial invasion to establish control over the country.” But, if the Senate confirms him, he is “very open to the possibility of and the necessity of an increase in the end-strength of the Army.”...Bush and Rumsfeld have said consistently that they have set the level of troops in Iraq based on what the commanders in the field requested - I heard no one ask Gates the big question - if he ends up believing more boots are needed on the ground over there, will he overrule his own generals and force them to integrate added forces? (and what will he say when lefties all over the world start protesting that we are trying to "occupy" the country with more troops?)......