Robert Gates confirms Obama admitted opposing surge for "politics"

[g5000]

I think the motives are financial, and a way for him to pretend to be apart from the mess when he was right in on it.

Obama is a piece of shit and I believe Gates is truthful, but these after-the-fact, in the SAFEZONE whistle-blowers are a little too cute by half. If Gates were a real man he would have stood up and sung at the time when his words would have made a difference. Right now he just looks like an opportunist.

And I repeat, Obama is filth, but it doesn't mean Gates isn't as well, just in a different sphere.

Gates would have been out of line to publicly attack his Command-in-Chief while he wore the uniform or served under him.

Not if he rendered his resignation in order to bring to light these loaded allegations. A real man would have done that, if this business was as awful as he now claims. There is blood on his hands because he sat on them.

Someone in my family was career military, retiring very high up the chain. I've learned things about the Pentagon and DC that I wish I never heard.

I'm retired military myself. That's why I said the higher you go in the military, the more of a politician you become.

Gates is a politician. His book needs to be viewed in that light.

 

[ScreamingEagle]

America is sinking....

This is the cheery Reaganesque optimism of the faux Right we love so much!

what do you expect with Captain Queeg at the helm.....?

 

[The Rabbi]

This is consistent with the McChrystal business. I always said McChrystal sabotaged his own career because he didnt want to be associated with Obama's losing strategy in Afghanistan. I'd be curious to know what Gates says about.

 

[Wry Catcher]

During the 2008 campaign, each candidate had a different approach to the wars.

McCain made it clear he expected we might have a military presence in Afghanistan for the next 50 years. The liberals pounced all over him for this statement. However, if Truman had said during World War II that we would have a military presence in Germany for the next 50 years that would cost us an astronomical amount of money and create a vast military-industrial complex, would he have been wrong? Nope.

Obama had an entirely different agenda focused on domestic issues. His plan for the wars was to end them and use the "savings" to fund his domestic programs.

During his 2008 campaign, Obama was writing promisorry checks the American people would not be able to cash. I pointed out on other forums that the idea there would be "savings" from ending the wars was preposterous. If you were spending $500 a month more than you earned, and you were spending it on hookers, then said that you were going to stop frequenting hookers and would use the "savings" to go to night school, would that make any kind of mathematical sense?

No. It doesn't. Our country was deficit spending like drunken sailors in a whorehouse under Bush. Something to which the coma children around here are oblivious. If you stop some of the deficit spending, there are no "savings". There is just less deficit spending.

So, bascially, Obama was saying he was going to keep on deficit spending at the same levels as Bush, only he was going to redirect the money from warmaking to domestic programs.

But to do this, he first had to end the wars.

And that explains his approach to the War on Islam being different from the way Bush prosecuted that war.

It also explains the suspicion he had toward his generals which Gates describes in his book. The generals wanted to continue to prosecute the war and have a military presence for the next half century in Afghanistan.

So is it really big news Obama had differences with them?

Nope.

And let's not pretend that the coma children don't make more of a big deal out of American deaths under Obama than they did Bush. Christ, we had some dipshits here claiming he killed 4,000 troops in the past year! A COMPLETELY BOGUS figure not even close to reality. It is therefore to be expected that Obama is sensitive to this.

So...yeah.

I think spending on domestic matters, building and rebuilding/repairing roads, tunnels and bridges, transportation hubs, intra- urban & inter-urban rail, the electrical grid, canals, levees and airports pays dividends. The invasion and occupation of Iraq & Afghanistan had zero cost benefits.

We have two borders, one with Canada to the north, and one with Mexico to the south, We have an Atlantic Ocean to our east and a Pacific Ocean to our west and a Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. All are protected by air and sea military forces second to none in the world.

We are now, apparently, one of the largest producers of energy in the world. I want us out of the ME and our focus to be on taking care of Americans at home, and our attention on the events unfolding in he Asian-Pacific Region, south Asia and the far east.

 

[RoadVirus]

In his new book, Robert Gates confirms conversations between himself and Barack Obama in which the president admitted to him that he opposed the "surge" strategy simply for political purposes.

In other words, he was willing to let Americans die horrible deaths and not attempt to win the war in order to score political points for his own selfish advantage.

Absolutely, positively disgusting. And this is the selfish, arrogant, self-absorbed sociopath that the Dumbocrats worship and defend here on USMB.

Ex-Defense Secretary Gates Takes Aim At Obama In New Book : The Two-Way : NPR

And playing politics on the battlefield is partially why we lost the Vietnam War. A bunch of flat-footed braindead twits in suits sitting in offices in DC thought they could direct a war better then battle-experienced Generals on the frontlines and in the Pentagon.

 

[tinydancer]

I love this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tinydancer]

And I will run with the Clintons

 

[deltex1]

In his new book, Robert Gates confirms conversations between himself and Barack Obama in which the president admitted to him that he opposed the "surge" strategy simply for political purposes.

In other words, he was willing to let Americans die horrible deaths and not attempt to win the war in order to score political points for his own selfish advantage.

Absolutely, positively disgusting. And this is the selfish, arrogant, self-absorbed sociopath that the Dumbocrats worship and defend here on USMB.

Ex-Defense Secretary Gates Takes Aim At Obama In New Book : The Two-Way : NPR

EVERYTHING the moron does is politically motivated. Name one that's not.

 

[Sarah G]

This is consistent with the McChrystal business. I always said McChrystal sabotaged his own career because he didnt want to be associated with Obama's losing strategy in Afghanistan. I'd be curious to know what Gates says about.

That's what you're going with, huh?

 

[tinydancer]

You evil souls who screwed over Hillary. Payback is coming. That was horrid what you did to her.

 

[Truthmatters]

Richard A. Clarke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Richard A. Clarke



http://www.richardaclarke.net/[dead link]

Richard Alan Clarke[1] (born October 27, 1950) is the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism for the United States.

Clarke worked for the State Department during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.[2] In 1992, President George H.W. Bush appointed him to chair the Counter-terrorism Security Group and to a seat on the United States National Security Council. President Bill Clinton retained Clarke and in 1998 promoted him to be the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism, the chief counter-terrorism adviser on the National Security Council. Under President George W. Bush, Clarke initially continued in the same position, but the position was no longer given cabinet-level access. He later became the Special Advisor to the President on cybersecurity. Clarke left the Bush administration in 2003.

Clarke came to widespread public attention for his role as counter-terrorism czar in the Clinton and Bush administrations in March 2004, when he appeared on the 60 Minutes television news magazine, released his memoir about his service in government, Against All Enemies, and testified before the 9/11 Commission. In all three instances, Clarke was sharply critical of the Bush administration's attitude toward counter-terrorism before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and of the decision to go to war with Iraq. Following Clarke's strong criticisms of the Bush administration, Bush administration officials and other Republicans attempted to discredit him or rebut his criticisms, making Clarke a controversial figure.

why do you believe gates but not Clarke?

Why do you ask? Obama called Gates one of the Greatest Secretaries of State ever. Are you calling Obama a liar or inept? It must be one or the other.

he may have been a good SoS but he sure is a shitty human being for attacking a guy who didn't treat him like shit huh?



NOW was Clarke lying about Bush?

 

[tinydancer]

Chuckie for sure.

 

[Sarah G]

why do you believe gates but not Clarke?

Why do you ask? Obama called Gates one of the Greatest Secretaries of State ever. Are you calling Obama a liar or inept? It must be one or the other.

he may have been a good SoS but he sure is a shitty human being for attacking a guy who didn't treat him like shit huh?



NOW was Clarke lying about Bush?

It's not like Gates was loyal to the president, people will figure that out soon enough.

 

[Political Junky]

I guess Gates is preparing to support the republican in 2016.

 

[Wry Catcher]

In his new book, Robert Gates confirms conversations between himself and Barack Obama in which the president admitted to him that he opposed the "surge" strategy simply for political purposes.

In other words, he was willing to let Americans die horrible deaths and not attempt to win the war in order to score political points for his own selfish advantage.

Absolutely, positively disgusting. And this is the selfish, arrogant, self-absorbed sociopath that the Dumbocrats worship and defend here on USMB.

Ex-Defense Secretary Gates Takes Aim At Obama In New Book : The Two-Way : NPR

And playing politics on the battlefield is partially why we lost the Vietnam War. A bunch of flat-footed braindead twits in suits sitting in offices in DC thought they could direct a war better then battle-experienced Generals on the frontlines and in the Pentagon.

I suppose that's true for the Iraq invasion and occupation too; a bunch of neo conservative "flat-footed braindead twits in suits sitting in offices in DC" wanted that war even before the Sept. 11 attack on the WTC. (see: http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a060397pnacprinciples )

It's sad Bush and Rumsfeld/Gates hadn't read, or chose to ignore, Robert McNamara's 11 lessons from Vietnam, before they created the fiasco which cost the lives of nearly 5,000 Americans at a cost of more than a trillion dollars.

From Robert McNamara's 1995 book "In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam":

1.We misjudged then — and we have since — the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries … and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions.

2.We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience … We totally misjudged the political forces within the country.

3.We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.

4.Our misjudgments of friend and foe, alike, reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders.

5.We failed then — and have since — to recognize the limitations of modern, high-technology military equipment, forces, and doctrine. We failed, as well, to adapt our military tactics to the task of winning the hearts and minds of people from a totally different culture.

6.We failed to draw Congress and the American people into a full and frank discussion and debate of the pros and cons of a large-scale military involvement … before we initiated the action.

7.After the action got under way, and unanticipated events forced us off our planned course … we did not fully explain what was happening, and why we were doing what we did.

8.We did not recognize that neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient. Our judgment of what is in another people's or country's best interest should be put to the test of open discussion in international forums. We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our image or as we choose.

9.We did not hold to the principle that U.S. military action … should be carried out only in conjunction with multinational forces supported fully (and not merely cosmetically) by the international community.

10.We failed to recognize that in international affairs, as in other aspects of life, there may be problems for which there are no immediate solutions … At times, we may have to live with an imperfect, untidy world.

11.Underlying many of these errors lay our failure to organize the top echelons of the executive branch to deal effectively with the extraordinarily complex range of political and military issues.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

why didn't you believe what he said?

Who said I didn't? Please show me the post where I stated "I don't believe Richard Clarke".

So now that we've covered the 80's and 90's, can we get back to current events that are shaping our nation? Or are they just too difficult for you to swallow? Rather change the subject to 1972?

1972?


R. Clarke was the top terror expert when Bush took office.


He quit because Bush REFUSED to listen to his warnings about OBL and AQ.


then we got hit on 911

Your time line is off 9/11 occurred in 2001 Clark did not quit till 2003.

 

[Sarah G]

I guess Gates is preparing to support the republican in 2016.

Maybe he's going to try to run himself.

 

[jon_berzerk]

In his new book, Robert Gates confirms conversations between himself and Barack Obama in which the president admitted to him that he opposed the "surge" strategy simply for political purposes.

In other words, he was willing to let Americans die horrible deaths and not attempt to win the war in order to score political points for his own selfish advantage.

Absolutely, positively disgusting. And this is the selfish, arrogant, self-absorbed sociopath that the Dumbocrats worship and defend here on USMB.

Ex-Defense Secretary Gates Takes Aim At Obama In New Book : The Two-Way : NPR

In other words, he was willing to let Americans die horrible deaths and not attempt to win the war in order to score political points for his own selfish advantage.


i dont have much respect for gates

he stood there lock step with the admin

and didnt say a word when it mattered

 

[Politico]

Been reading articles about the book this morning. Pretty damning book. He also states that low level administration officials would directly call or confront admirals & generals and that Obama allowed it. In other words no respect for the military or its chain of command.

Yeah really damning alright. He disagreed with Obammy so much he pursued, accepted and retired from a job with him.

 

[boedicca]

Everything Obama does is for politics.

All he knows how to do is campaign.