Secretary of Defense Defenseless Against Storm

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates suffered a fractured shoulder after slipping on ice Tuesday night at his Washington home, the Pentagon said.

  CNN

The Russians have sold weather control technology to the terrorists.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

One Man Between Iran and Obliteration?

Pentagon sources say [war secretary Robert] Gates is waging a subtle campaign to undermine the Cheney camp by encouraging the army's senior officers to speak frankly about the overstretch of forces, and the difficulty of fighting another war.

Bruce Reidel, a former CIA Middle East officer, said: "Cheney's people know they can beat Condi. They have been doing it for six years. Bob Gates is a different kettle of fish. He doesn't owe the President anything. He is urging his officers to be completely honest, knowing what that means."

  UK Daily Telegraph

Yeah, good luck with that.

General George Casey, the army's new chief of staff, [...] told Congress the army was "out of balance" and added: "The demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply. We are consumed with meeting the demands of the current fight, and are unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as necessary for other potential contingencies."

I think we’ve got 30,000 just about ready to move. And it doesn’t take a lot of soldiers to drop megatons of obliterating missiles on a country. All it takes is another, perhaps bigger, 9/11.

One CIA insider said: "Bush understands that any increase in real military hostilities in Iran right now could have a negative effect. Bob Gates is the only one opposed to it. He's the single person in the US government who has any standing with the White House fighting it."

That’s not very good odds.

The intelligence community over the next few months is going to come out with three different reports on Iran about internal political problems of Iran, about the economy, and about their nuclear capability.

Those are going to be key to decide what the Bush administration is going to do, and it’s the intelligence community I think trying to slow down what the president, most particularly the vice president, want to do in Iran.

  Howard Fineman [from Think Progress]

Yeah, good luck with that.

Where the hell is Congress?

Oh yeah.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Gates on His Way Out the Door

During a recent trip to the Middle East, Gates told the Iraqi government that time was running out and praised Democratic efforts in the U.S. Congress to set a timetable for withdrawal, saying it would help prod the Iraqis. He reiterated that point during a meeting with reporters last week.

  LA Times article

Maybe he's trying to get fired.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.