Looks like these two disagreed with the Iran bombing plans. Your outa here!
Even during WWII, there were generals and admirals who were too afraid to fight. I recall a fascinating account in the weeks before the D-Day invasion of Europe, of a general who complained to Eisenhower that the plans would lead to catastrophe and unacceptable losses.
Mind you, this is after years of planning, with just weeks to go for the launch, and this guy speaks up. Well, Eishenhower did not blow him off. Instead, with the general’s concerns foremost in his mind, Eisenhower spent three whole days reviewing everything. This showed he was willing to listen and even take the critic’s point of view. After those three days, he wrote the general back saying that after he had completely reviewed the plans, and had to disagree with the good general. That is just incredible leadership as far as I’m concerned.
Hopefully, Gates learned from Eisenhower.
The U.S. landed 6 Army/Marine divisions in all of Normandy on D-Day, 1944. The Germans had more than 44 Wehrmacht and Panzer armored divisions for the defense.
Traditional military thought was that we'd be slaughtered.