[Defense Secretary Robert] Gates said military measures could have indirect consequences that "need to be considered very carefully." He suggested any intervention in Libya could drain U.S. forces from the war in Afghanistan and questioned the wisdom of the United States engaging in military action in another Muslim country.
Gates is about to be fired, I think. Oh, wait. Apparently, he can see the handwriting on the wall.
He has announced he will step down as secretary later this year.
And who can blame him?
“There has been an overwhelming tendency of our defense bureaucracy to focus on preparing for future high-end conflicts — priorities often based, ironically, on what transpired in the last century — as opposed to the messy fights in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Gates said. “But without succumbing to what I once called ‘next-war-itis,’ I do think it important to think about what the Army will look like and must be able to do after large U.S. combat units are substantially drawn down in Afghanistan .”
When we finally turn and run, I think might be another way to put it.
“In my opinion, any future Defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General (Douglas) MacArthur so delicately put it,” he said.
”I’m looking at you, Rumsfeld, you idiot,” he did not have to say.
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