Posted on 01/11/2014 12:26:58 PM PST by Hojczyk
For the first several months, it took a lot of discipline to sit quietly at the table as everyone from President Obama on down took shots at President Bush and his team. Sitting there, I would often think to myself, Am I invisible?
During these excoriations, there was never any acknowledgment that I had been an integral part of that earlier team. Discussions in the Situation Room allowed no room for discriminating analysis: Everything was awful, and Obama and his team had arrived just in time to save the day.
Our discussions soon turned to the war in Afghanistan. My years in the Bush administration had convinced me that creating a strong, democratic, and more or less honest and competent central government in Afghanistan was a fantasy. Our goal, I thought, should be limited to hammering the Taliban and other extremists and to building up the Afghan security forces so they could control the extremists and deny al Qaeda another safe haven in Afghanistan.
This pressure for an early decision on a troop increase had the unfortunate and lasting effect of creating suspicion in the White House that Obama was getting the "bum's rush" from senior military officers—especially the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Michael Mullen, and Gen. David Petraeus, who was then running the U.S. Central Command—to make a big decision prematurely. I believed then—and now—that this distrust was stoked by Vice President Joe Biden, with Deputy National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and some of Obama's other White House advisers joining the chorus.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303848104579310772780856370
Looks like were in for big trouble …three more years of this…
The whole article is worth reading..
That Sunday meeting was unlike any I ever attended in the Oval Office. Obama said he had gathered the group principally to go through his decisions one more time to determine whether Mullen and Petraeus were fully on board. The commanders said what he wanted to hear, and I was pleased to hear my proposal being adopted.
Then came an exchange that is seared into my memory. Biden said he was ready to move forward, but the military “should consider the president’s decision as an order.”
“I am giving an order,” Obama quickly said.
I was shocked. I had never heard a president explicitly frame a decision as a direct order. With the U.S. military, it is completely unnecessary. As secretary of defense, I had never issued an “order” to get something done; nor had I heard any commander do so. Obama’s “order,” at Biden’s urging, demonstrated the complete unfamiliarity of both men with the American military culture.
The president announced the troop surge at West Point on Dec. 1. In the end, this major national security debate had been driven more by the White House staff and domestic politics than any other in my entire experience. The president’s political operatives wanted to make sure that everyone knew the Pentagon wouldn’t get its way.
Obama, however, made the tough decision to go forward with the Afghan surge—a decision that was contrary to the advice of all his political advisers and almost certainly the least politically popular of his options.
the Wall Street Journal was able to print this off under the threat of the entire media complex and it’s boss, Obama and Holder instead of an entire page of Christie the front runner’s (not the NJ Governor’s) abuse of power, OKA the republican’s forgetting that sainthood is a prerequisite for running for president, scandal?
The Journal might be mistaken for a special ops team.
. for later
Robert Gates’ is the person who is most responsible for the ending of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.
Gates championed homosexual behavior in the military, and now heads the Boy Scouts.
It is people like Gates who are destroying the country.
I thought so as soon as they got him out of his post at AM.
He’s proved it ever since.
A&M
OK, anyone else just want to puke when they read this complete article? Just once I would like to see someone of principle just get up, yell Bullsh!t, and resign in protest. Gates could easily have retired from civil service, changed the course of history and saved hundreds of lives. Instead, the lifelong, analyst, and a$$kisser just goes along to get along, even though he’s seething inside. Ok—why not speak the hell up? Sounds like McChrystal did, and got fired for it, because he had the spine to disagree, although they blamed the firing on something else, of course. Petreus and Mullen were no better than Gates. Where are the men of principle? They sure as hell aren’t running the government or the military.
Gates runs the Boy Scouts?
Good gawd, worse than I thought it was. I already thought the BSA should be abandoned
What comes across is THE FOREIGNER and his REGIME were inexperienced radical america haters, and ad paranoid to it, who should have never been in a position with this much authority. THE FOREIGNER leads out of spite for this country instead of love.
Freerepublic was the first to compile articles and information regarding the ongoing purge of top level American commanders in the field ( Middle East / Africa )
Now we see it's all true - Obama truly does fear a military coup of his administration. Why?
Gates would not have changed the course of history if he had quit. It would have been forgotten within a week as the NYT led media quickly moved onto something else. McCrystal stepping down lasted about two days in the media...Gates would have been the same.
“I’m giving an order”
Lol. Someone learned how to be president by watching too many movies.
Believe this . . . people who should know details, I guarantee you know just who "Obama" really is and where he comes from.
If anyone knows the only thing that can fix America is a Civil War.. it’s GATES...
America is NOT setup to deal with a traitor as Commander in Chief..
WHo is in fact “the Trojan Horse” bringing all manner of enemies into rule as a Cabal or Junta..
Obama is punishment to the United States. for 75,000.000 murdered babies..
AND very many other “things”...
VOTING will not and can not cure the ills plaguing the United States..
ONLY a stampede by the sheep... that’s why we even HAVE a Second Amendment..
“I was a Wimpy Yes Man for Obama” - by Robert Gates
“It is people like Gates who are destroying the country.”
This needs a correction
It is Gates, and others like him, who are destroying/enslaving the country
My years in the Bush administration had convinced me that creating a strong, democratic, and more or less honest and competent central government in Afghanistan was a fantasy.
Smart man. That’s an impossibility in ANY Islamic State.
Gates book is a valuable tool for conservatives. You and I speculate, but Gates was an eye witness to these things.IMO conservatives should be promoting this book as court room evidence of the treasonous behavior of the Commander in Chief.
I for one think it took guts to publish the book and that whether he realizes it or not, it is a gift to those of us who are Republican/conservative.
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