Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Must Now Truly Go
It is now past time for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to either resign or be fired by President Obama.
The masters of feigned outrage, the Democrats, are over-exercised today because they feel President Obama's hand-picked General to fight the war in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, went outside the "chain of command" when commenting on troop levels in London last week.
This from General Jim Jones, the National Security Adviser, who is not in the McChrystal-Gates-Obama hierarchy, " . . . it's better for military advice to come up through the chain of command." All other advice can be scatter-shot, I guess.
For weeks I've been reading about Gen. McChrystal's "leaked" report on Afghanistan that wound up at the Washington Post. Never have I heard anyone question how did McChrystal's report end up with the media.
But, today, Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman seemed to be more upset about McChrystal making comments that SUPPORTED the President's current Afghanistan strategy, the strategy he set in March, when he said, "It was always the Secretary's intent to try to have these discussions to review the assessment within the chain of command and that was the design of it. That's not how it unfolded, so I would be disingenuous if I didn't say that it is disappointing at times as an institution that prides itself on discipline when there are individuals that violate that trust that's placed on them." Though the White House is specifically saying that McChrystal was not actively campaigning for additional troops.
So, a Defense Secretary, who has been on the job for three years, isn't sufficiently informed on Afghanistan that he can advise the President on troop levels.
The same Defense Secretary runs a Defense Department where confidentiual reports end up at the Washington Post before they end up in the Oval Office.
The same Defense Secretary has his spokesperson trash the discipline of the Secretary's department.
The same Defense Secretary is essentially called-out by the National Security Adviser.
Secretary Gates must go yesterday; US troops currently deployed in two shooting wars deserve better.
It is now past time for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to either resign or be fired by President Obama.
The masters of feigned outrage, the Democrats, are over-exercised today because they feel President Obama's hand-picked General to fight the war in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, went outside the "chain of command" when commenting on troop levels in London last week.
This from General Jim Jones, the National Security Adviser, who is not in the McChrystal-Gates-Obama hierarchy, " . . . it's better for military advice to come up through the chain of command." All other advice can be scatter-shot, I guess.
For weeks I've been reading about Gen. McChrystal's "leaked" report on Afghanistan that wound up at the Washington Post. Never have I heard anyone question how did McChrystal's report end up with the media.
But, today, Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman seemed to be more upset about McChrystal making comments that SUPPORTED the President's current Afghanistan strategy, the strategy he set in March, when he said, "It was always the Secretary's intent to try to have these discussions to review the assessment within the chain of command and that was the design of it. That's not how it unfolded, so I would be disingenuous if I didn't say that it is disappointing at times as an institution that prides itself on discipline when there are individuals that violate that trust that's placed on them." Though the White House is specifically saying that McChrystal was not actively campaigning for additional troops.
So, a Defense Secretary, who has been on the job for three years, isn't sufficiently informed on Afghanistan that he can advise the President on troop levels.
The same Defense Secretary runs a Defense Department where confidentiual reports end up at the Washington Post before they end up in the Oval Office.
The same Defense Secretary has his spokesperson trash the discipline of the Secretary's department.
The same Defense Secretary is essentially called-out by the National Security Adviser.
Secretary Gates must go yesterday; US troops currently deployed in two shooting wars deserve better.
posted by Zack at 5:11 PM
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