Robert Gates Lines Up with Bush (Robert Parry)

[laststeamtrain]

Robert Gates Lines Up with Bush

By Robert Parry
December 19, 2006

In early December, when Senate Democrats politely questioned Robert M. Gates and then voted unanimously to confirm him as Defense Secretary, they bought into the conventional wisdom that Gates was a closet dove who would help guide the United States out of George W. Bush's mess in Iraq.

The thinking was that Gates, a former member of the Iraq Study Group, would represent the views of James Baker and other "realists" from George H.W. Bush's administration. Hillary Clinton and other Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee praised Gates for his "candor" when he acknowledged the obvious, that the war in Iraq wasn't being won.

Since the Gates confirmation vote on Dec. 6, however, Bush and Gates have signaled that they have no intention of extricating the U.S. military from the Iraq quagmire. They still insist on nothing short of "victory" or "success," no matter how unlikely those ends and no matter how much blood must be spilled over the next two years to avert defeat.

<snip>

But the Democrats failed to probe any of Gates's inclinations at his Dec. 5 confirmation hearing. They failed to nail down his precise thinking on any aspect of the war strategy or even secure a guarantee that the Pentagon would turn over documents for oversight hearings.

Among many gaps in the questioning, the Democrats didn’t press Gates on whether he shared the neoconservative vision of violently remaking the Middle East, whether he endorsed the Military Commissions Act’s elimination of habeas corpus rights to fair trials, whether he supports warrantless wiretaps by the Pentagon’s National Security Agency, whether he agrees with Bush’s claim of “plenary” – or unlimited – powers as a Commander in Chief who can override laws and the U.S. Constitution.

<more>

http://www.consortiumnews.com/Print/2006/121806.html

[KoKo]

1. I don't know why Dems easily confirmed him...unless it's the "Pottery Barn"

syndrome? They didn't have the votes to overide,either...so figured it wasn't worth it.

[omega minimo]

2. LEVIN CALLED HIM CANDID !!!!

"But the Democrats failed to probe any of Gates's inclinations at his Dec. 5 confirmation hearing. They failed to nail down his precise thinking on any aspect of the war strategy or even secure a guarantee that the Pentagon would turn over documents for oversight hearings."


:puke:

[thingfisher]

3. Meanwhile, we just hold our breathe waiting for Jan.

Are we expecting all hell to break loose once the majority Dem congress is ready to begin its tenure? I sure hope it does.

[bobthedrummer]

4. Fwiw a lot of us didn't buy into Gates and surely expected more in

the context of serious questioning-but it's another done BFEE deal.

For just some of the many reasons to have not been placated by Rumsfeld's "resignation" and his appointed replacement
here is another archived thread with lots of history about SecDef Gates and others.

"Gates is Poppy's guy...datadump"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2665635