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Obama: Drop Gates

By Robert Dreyfuss, The Nation. Posted November 5, 2008.


There is wide speculation that Robert Gates will stay on as Secretary of Defense under Obama. This would be a huge mistake.

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Barack Obama will be getting off on the wrong foot, to put it mildly, if he does what seems likely now: allow Robert Gates to stay on as Secretary of Defense.

For reasons that are unclear to me, many in Obama's inner circle seem to believe that it's important to bring so-called "moderate" Republicans into the president-elect's national security team. That is an awful idea, for two reasons: first, even though many of the names being floated -- such as Gates, Dick Lugar of Indiana, and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska -- come from the traditional wing of the GOP, and they are not neoconservatives, they are almost guaranteed to push for an expansion of the U.S. military budget and a bigger armed forces. And second, by doing so Obama would be conceding many critics' argument that Democrats are somehow not suited to control the national security apparatus.

Gates has reportedly already been working on the transition to an Obama administration, and he certainly hasn't done anything to damp down speculation that he is a candidate for the job under Obama.

His thumbmail bio, for those who've forgotten: Gates spent decades in the CIA as a Soviet specialist, where he consistently inflated the threat from the USSR to justify a U.S. military buildup, especially under President Reagan; he served as a top CIA official under Reagan and Bush I, who nominated him (twice) to be CIA director. The first time, Gates was shot down in the Senate because of his ties to the Iran-contra scandal of the mid-1980s, but the second time was a charm, and he was CIA director from 1991 to 1993.

During the Bush II years, Gates took part in two commissions that helped him earn some praise as a moderate, serving with Zbigniew Brzezinski on a CFR task force on Iran that called for negotiations with Tehran, and then briefly serving as a member of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group in 2006, which called for a phased withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq. (Gates left the ISG to become secretary of defense before its report was issued, so he didn't sign on to its conclusions, but it seems clear that he supported the thrust of the ISG's work.) But since then Gates has been closely identified with the post-2006 "surge" in Iraq, and he has been closely involved in planning the escalation of the war in Afghanistan and the recent pattern of attacks across the border into Pakistan.

Some top Obama officials, including Richard Danzig -- a former secretary of the Navy, who is himself a candidate for secretary of defense -- have said on the record that Obama ought to retain Gates at DOD.

At least one newspaper, the Canadian National Post, is reporting that Gates "has apparently said he wants to retire."

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See more stories tagged with: iraq, robert gates, iran-contra, barack obama, us military, richard lugar, churck hagel

Robert Dreyfuss is the author of "Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam" (Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books).

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View:
Change you can believe in!
Posted by: 2thepoint on Nov 5, 2008 5:26 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Rahm Emanuel as Chief of staff! - a hard ass partisan who Clinton didn't like much on his staff. His father was a hard core militant Zionist which means we Israel will continue to have undo influence on our foreign policy.

I need to go look up the definition of real change again!

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» RE: Change you can believe in! Posted by: wefearwhatwedontunderstand
" For reasons that are unclear to me .. " What???
Posted by: Von on Nov 6, 2008 1:45 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I cant belive I read that. Come On. Most of what Ive been reading is that we live in a democracy in the United States,,so that means every single person that voted for Obama, has the power and control to change everything he is about to do or has already done. Right?

I mean..its not gonna be like Obama & Compnay are gonna get a hand-off from the Bush Regime and turn the attention to Pakistan or anything. Right?

Im sure Obama has not been briefed by General Patreus on the Iraq / Afghanistan / Pakistan / Iran situations..hell.....we're gonna get CHANGE! Right?.

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I hear your angst
Posted by: Lauren on Nov 6, 2008 3:13 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We have to hope Obama understands the issues. We have to fear what the CIA will do to maintain the awesome power they wield. Think about the drug trade, what would you do if you were inheriting that big mess?

Maybe he is keeping his friends close and his enemies closer. We are just going to have to wait and see.

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» RE: I hear your angst Posted by: Von
» RE: I hear your angst Posted by: zeek2
Oh Dear....
Posted by: Captainmagic on Nov 6, 2008 4:28 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So 130mil Americans voted and what...the planet stopped....or maybe all and sundry ran out into the streets and cried out haleluyah in com de change.....hum..nup...be careful, be very careful at this juncture of time...it is when you will be at your most vulnerable....watch for the GOP beast..it still breaths...and makes decisions for you!!!! and Obama...if Bu$hCo is not impeached and prosecutions made then it will be a (stone cold), nothing will have changed.

Captain OUT

Now for the smoke and mirrors of the Demopuglican$

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Shadow governments and this Presidential election
Posted by: George DeCarlo on Nov 6, 2008 4:57 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A question asked of me: What did you say about shadow governments George? GaryinNH

George H.W. Bush signed the Copenhagen Document of the Helsinki Accords calling for equality for all political parties. The US has still not met this obligation under that international agreement. So I find US presidential elections sad due to their purposely having only two possible candidates from two political parties that have virtually no differences between them. The illusion serves its purpose so everyone gets excited and then reality sets in after the president starts satisfying the needs of the elite with a different flavor for the next four years.

So with Obama there will only be some fluff change for the washed and unwashed masses with his handlers representing the Bilderberg Conference and other associated elite organizations close behind. Brezinski has been there and his economic advisors (two from U of Chicago and the other from Harvard supporting privatizing Social Security) gave me the hint as to where this was really going. Yes, there are disagreements amongst the elite but they may now rest assured no substantial change will take place.

Obama does not support Full Equal Rights for Gays and Lesbians that makes him a bigot. So his heart must be feeling good that California is voting no to a human right for Gays and Lesbians. YES, in the United States of America, land of the free and the brave, electing a possible non-"natural born" person president - www.obamacrimes.com , Gays and Lesbians have their human rights approved of by the majority of voters. Recall that this is supposed to be a republic since the Founders never wanted a democracy due to mob rule. Franklin's concern was correct, we could not keep it.

George

--
George DeCarlo, CH
Consulting Hypnotist
908-342-1275 (cell)

End heterosexual oppression of Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals - support full equal rights!

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Gates has 30 years experience in dirty foreign policy . . .
Posted by: dustdevil on Nov 6, 2008 6:39 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
including being one of the key players in the Iran-Contra arms deal.

Ari Ben-Menache, former Israeli arms dealer, writes in his expose "Profits of War" that Gates was one of the bagmen for money paid to Iran to bring about the "October Surprise" that helped Reagon defeat Carter.

If Obama retains Gates, we can forget about change.

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Boxer
Posted by: jcleland on Nov 6, 2008 7:11 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
During the sixties the media had the courage to talk with both hawks and doves. During these wars they only talk to hawks. Therefore Gates can appear to be a moderate warmonger. Obama needs to find real middle of the roaders.

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welshTerrier2
Posted by: welshTerrier2 on Nov 6, 2008 12:30 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Here is an excerpt from a very recent article about Mr. Gates' views on nuclear weapons:

"U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is calling for the development of a new generation of American nuclear weapons to deter aggression by a variety of potential adversaries, including rogue states and terrorists."

Is the Obama message going to be an acceptance of more nuclear weaponry?

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Inside joke I'd like to share
Posted by: xmvince on Nov 6, 2008 9:28 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When I saw the title of this article I burst out laughing. "Dropping a gate" is the term my friends and I use for smoking a gravity bong (we do that every day). When we saw "Obama: Drop Gates" we found it pretty hilarious :)

Sorry for the offtopic.

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Enemy at the "Gates"
Posted by: penobscotdziekuje@yahoo.com on Nov 7, 2008 9:10 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Yes, it would be foolish for Herr Obama to retain this last piece of Bush vestige. Get someone else who will work to make this world safe from war and other problems. The U.S.A. does not need any more hawks in government.
Gates is the "enemy" and he must not be allowed into Obama's cabinet. Otherwise he has a short shelf life and will expire soon.

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Change who can believe in?
Posted by: Bliss Doubt on Nov 7, 2008 3:22 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I've been trying not to read anything, no news, no blogs, no email alerts, because when I see what kind of cabinet Obama is building I start to feel sick. If he hadn't nearly copyrighted the word "change" for his campaign, I wouldn't be so shocked that his watch will include Clinton and Bush reruns. Anyway, whoever hasn't might want to see the site I just found out about, Obama's official dot gov transition website: change.gov

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Gates is wrong on Afghanistan
Posted by: Garvagh on Nov 7, 2008 5:07 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bravo! Gates indeed played a large role in convincing the American public the USSR posed a threat many times larger than was actually the case, helping sell grotesque "defense" budgets in the 1980s.

Gates is reasonable sensible about Iran, but he still seems to think there is a military solution to the growing Afghan insurgency - - contrary to the thinking of senior British military men.

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