I think I read someting recently that Gates was very critical of the Airforce and felt they weren’t doing enough in the Iraq theater. He thought they were underutilizing their drone capability and were basically not being proactive.
Gates thought Airforce was/were/is underutilizing 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 Airforce wants $400,000,000.00 flying Barbaros and winged Big Browns for their future mythic “Knight of the Sky” Heros. The Airforce wants to re-fight World War II, and keeps buying better fighters and bombers to re-win that war.