Robert Gates to be named Secretary of Defense

Perdogg

[Perdogg]

Per AP

[Mo1]

This takes the anti-Rumsfeld thing away from the Dims. They'll have some hearings but they can't go into the kind of excruciating stuff they were planning.

That is the only upside to this news

But they are still going to go after Bush

[Mo1]

And the phone ..

My brother call and I wasn't in the mood

Told him to F off and hung up on him

[ohioWfan]

Rummy offered to resign before. This time his resignation was accepted.

I'm going to pray for him, and rejoice that he won't have to take the abuse he's taken for 6 years.

President Bush can take whatever is thrown at him, but he needs our prayers now more than ever. He does not need to be abandoned by those of us who know his character and his commitment to America, and to winning the war on terror.

God have mercy on this nation. God protect our troops.

[ziravan]

I grad from Aggieland, and I still live here. Gate's is a 'Harriet Miers'-type choice.

1. Former CIA guy - this guy helped develop the intel that lead to the war. So, let's give the reins to somebody already at the incompetent end of where we are today.

2. at TAMU - poster boy for rate hikes and cow-towing to the tenured elite. He's a player, not a fighter.

3. Bonfire: he outright lied about its future.

4. Daddy's Boy: don't think the DU won't latch on to that.

5. None of you are going to like the Baker commission recommendations. Remember this - Gates is the FIRST recommendation.

On the bright side, TAMU can now get rid of this guy. But there's no silver lining as he's being fobbed off on our military heroes.

Rummy, I miss you already.

~faith.

[SJackson]

Voting is a different thread. I think the Saudis will be pleased. America's image suffers a hit, and a shiite dominated Iraq is avoided.

Baker's Panel Rules Out Iraq Victory

Baker's Panel Rules Out Iraq Victory

[pnz1]

Yeah, I expect them to demand a Dem be appointed

[George W. Bush]

I think we need to see if GWB is going to adopt the policy recomendations of the Baker bipartisan "policy group", said to be a withdrawl with negotiations with Iraq and Iran to draw them in for stability purposes.

I think Baker recommends semi-partition, three autonomous regions and some agreement with Turkey and Iran to leave them alone. And we largely withdraw to our bases in Iraq as guarantors of the peace. I don't see any complete Iraqus interruptus on the horizon.

[SJackson]

None of you are going to like the Baker commission recommendations. Remember this - Gates is the FIRST recommendation

Just guessing, Gates is the implementor of the recommendations, along with Rice. Like them, many of us won't, which is why they were announced after the election.

[George W. Bush]

But they are still going to go after Bush

Hearings? Yes. Oversight? Yes. Offering alternative plans? Sure.

Undermining the troops? No. Cutting funding? Not for over a year.

Impeachment? We won't get so lucky that they would make that mistake. Look how much it helped Clinton when we impeached him.

[SJackson]

I think Baker recommends semi-partition, three autonomous regions and some agreement with Turkey and Iran to leave them alone. And we largely withdraw to our bases in Iraq as guarantors of the peace. I don't see any complete Iraqus interruptus on the horizon.

That's been one guess. Perhaps workable, as long as we ignore the wished of the Iraqi government. Sounds a lot like the undeveloped Biden plan. The other is a phased, time certain withdrawl, also involving the Syrians and Iranians in the process. This wouldn't require essentially dismantling the Iraqi government as would plan A. Sounds a lot like the Murtha plan. IMO, if these are the options, it would have been better to hear about them before the election.

[cva66snipe]

Ditto. Probably the best since our last Secretary Of War during WW II, Henry Stimson.

Nope but Cap Weinberger sure as heck was. Rummy was Fords Sec of Def? Remember that one? Remember the hollow Carter Military? It was pretty much emptied out bu January 1977. Only a 1979-80 Secretary of the Navy was the bright spot in that period of history from 1974-Jan 1981. He started the Navy on the road to recovery.

[juliej]

Should have done it before the election.

[hummingbird]

Rumsfeld probably had the highest IQ of any official in any administration!

Agreed. Going to miss those press conferences....

[Terabitten]

This just compounds the appearance of incompetence, failure and defeat.

There was no "appearance," Rumsfeld needed to go. He failed to prosecute the war aggressively enough.

[Terabitten]

I want a fighter, someone who knows the DoD inside out, who can make things happen, who can fight a war and not mince words.

Russ Honore for SecDef!

[CottShop]

Yup- VERY sad that the MSM condemned him with lies and vitriolic rhetoric- politics and news media is such a nasty vile proffesion.

Christian news and commentary at: sacredscoop.com ...

[George W. Bush]

Nope but Cap Weinberger sure as heck was.

Both were great Secetaries. You can argue the merits of each but they faced very different challenges and political and international environments. I probably like Rummy better because he had a personality that was toxic to the libs. His easy sense of confidence and faith in our mission, well, Cap Weinberger was just as smart but somehow didn't really convey that sort of vice-Commander-In-Chief thing that Rummy has had.

Rummy was more visibly a wartime secretary than Weinberger, perhaps. And he was more comfortable with the media. OTOH, Cap never had a solid GOP congress so he had to be more careful in public so we just didn't know him as well as Rummy.

Personally, I think it's best for Rummy to go. I don't like the thought of a bunch of Dim gnats and media leeches slowly chewing him to death and trying to humiliate and assassinate his character for the next two years. The old warrior deserves better than that.

[Sabramerican]

Nonsense.

Prosecuting the war effectively would have meant making sure Syria and Iran and Saudi Arabia and others don't have the ability to support and arm the enemy.

It would have meant not filtering everything through Islamic sensibilities.

The decision not to do anything positive on those fronts was political, not military, and way above his pay grade.

[George W. Bush]

IMO, if these are the options, it would have been better to hear about them before the election.

Yeah but the Republican plan ("TOTAL VICTORY!") wasn't much more convincing to voters than the Dim plan ("WE'RE NOT BUSH!"). An unbelievable-plan vs. a no-plan.

No matter how many times they say it, I just don't believe people voted this year on Iraq. I just don't.

It was boredom, it was Katrina and some of the other shortcomings, it was Abramoff/Delay/Foley, it was just something else. I don't even know anyone who ever talks about Iraq as impacting their vote. They're not gung-ho or opposed on Iraq other than some folks on the two political fringes.

They may have told the pollsters it's about Iraq. But that's not it.