Gates thought Air Force was/were/is under-utilizing their drone capability and were basically not doing enough for the soldiers and marines in Iraq. And almost anyone who looks into the matter will very likely agree with Gates.
The Air Force doesn’t want anonymous, discrete, unseen drones. The Air Force wants $400,000,000.00 flying Barbaros and winged Big Browns for their future mythic “Knight of the Sky” Heros. The Air Force wants to re-fight World War II, and keeps buying better fighters and bombers to re-win that war.