Gates Praises Obama's Gutsy Call

[autiger4life 3]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/15/gates.cbs.interview/index.html?hpt=T2

President Barack Obama's decision to order a raid against Osama bin Laden in Pakistan was a courageous and gutsy call, said U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"I've worked for a lot of these guys and this is one of the most courageous calls -- decisions -- that I think I've ever seen a president make," he said during a CBS "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday night.

"It was a very gutsy call."

The outgoing defense secretary said he had "real reservations" about the intelligence surrounding the raid.

"I was very concerned, frankly," he said. "My worry was the level of uncertainty about whether bin Laden was even in the compound. There wasn't any direct evidence that he was there. It was all circumstantial, but it was the best information that we had since probably 2001."

Bin Laden's unreleased message

Cleric walks in bin Laden's footsteps

Journalist says bin Laden grew cranky U.S. officials had tracked a trusted bin Laden courier for years, who they believed was living with and protecting the al Qaeda leader. They were confident the courier lived at the Pakistan compound, but were not certain that bin Laden lived there too.

The courier and his brother were among those killed in the raid.

Gates said it would be "premature" to talk about whether bin Laden's death could accelerate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, now slated to start in July, but said he believes the United States is gaining the upper hand there.

"We have over the last 18 months put in place, for the first time, the resources necessary to ensure that this threat does not rebuild -- does not re-emerge -- once we're gone. I think we could be in a position by the end of this year where we have turned the corner in Afghanistan," he said.

Gates, the only Cabinet member from the previous administration to stay on when Obama came into office, is expected to step down this year.

Former President George W. Bush nominated Gates as the nation's 22nd secretary of defense in December 2006 to replace Donald Rumsfeld, one of the architects of the Iraq war.

During the early months of his tenure, Gates focused on implementing the "troop surge" in Iraq, a strategy change that was under consideration before he became secretary. It called for increasing the number of troops in Iraq and focusing their efforts in Baghdad. The goal was to have Iraqi troops take the lead in military matters and allow political progress to proceed by isolating extremists.

Although many on both sides of the political spectrum opposed the idea of 20,000 more American troops in Iraq, by 2008 violence declined, and Gates began overseeing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, an endeavor that continues.

"I think had we left here with our tail between our legs, and with chaos, it would have been very bad for our army and for our military," he said.

Still, Gates told CBS that he was worried the United States would be "penny-wise and pound-foolish" in Iraq in the months and years to come.

The defense secretary also lashed out at the institution he runs during the wide-ranging interview, criticizing Pentagon bureaucracy.

"I think the hardest thing for me to deal with is leading a department that is organized to plan for war but not to fight a war. And so everything that I wanted to do to try to help the men and women in the field, I've had to do outside the normal Pentagon bureaucracy ... that's been very frustrating," he said.

"I've ruffled a few feathers at all the institutions I've led, but I think that's part of leadership."

[Raven_tiger 5]

...but I thought that Obama did not make the call???

[arnaldoabru 11]

Awful quite, isn't it.

[sandyclawedtiger 207]

Awful quite, isn't it.

Boys lie. Didn't your momma tell you that?

[AURaptor 1,137]

Awful quite, isn't it.

Some folks work for a living, and go to sleep at a decent hour.

What's the SecDef suppose to say of his Commander OF Chief ?

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Awful quite, isn't it.

Some folks work for a living, and go to sleep at a decent hour.

What's the SecDef suppose to say of his Commander OF Chief ?

If he didn't believe what he was saying, he didn't have to make any comment at all. He's leaving June 30th. He could just keep his mouth shut and offer bland, vague platitudes for another six weeks and then say whatever he wants once he's out.

[arnaldoabru 11]

Awful quite, isn't it.

Some folks work for a living, and go to sleep at a decent hour.

What's the SecDef suppose to say of his Commander OF Chief ?

Oh, and us Liberals don't. It's a lot of work keeping my food stamps active, keeping 4.00$ a gallon gas in my Coup de Ville, waiting in line for the free cheese, keeping all my baby mommy's happy and watching the mailbox for my welfare check.

[AURaptor 1,137]

Some folks think it best to promote a positive team image, save for the most extreme cases. I'd expect nothing less from Gates. And it was a gutsy call. Comes with the job.

Really not seeing the point of all this.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Just a reaction to the tendency of some on the right to try and diminish Obama's role in all of this one way or the other.

[AURaptor 1,137]

Just a reaction to the tendency of some on the right to try and diminish Obama's role in all of this one way or the other.

On the Right? Where did the stories which claimed Panetta & Hillary had to convince Obama that now was the time? I heard it was " unnamed sources ", with in the WH.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Just a reaction to the tendency of some on the right to try and diminish Obama's role in all of this one way or the other.

On the Right? Where did the stories which claimed Panetta & Hillary had to convince Obama that now was the time? I heard it was " unnamed sources ", with in the WH.

And it's of no importance that these unnamed sources somehow managed to get their stories published on obscure right-wing blog sites? Hell, even Fox News knew better than to touch that stinker of a story.

[AURaptor 1,137]

And it's of no importance that these unnamed sources somehow managed to get their stories published on obscure right-wing blog sites? Hell, even Fox News knew better than to touch that stinker of a story.

So, you're saying FOX is main stream, middle of the road now ?

Good. Glad you figured that out.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

And it's of no importance that these unnamed sources somehow managed to get their stories published on obscure right-wing blog sites? Hell, even Fox News knew better than to touch that stinker of a story.

So, you're saying FOX is main stream, middle of the road now ?

Good. Glad you figured that out.

No, I'm saying that even if right-leaning Fox wouldn't touch it, it should give you some indication as to just how far out in right-field that turd was.

[AURaptor 1,137]

No, I'm saying that even if right-leaning Fox wouldn't touch it, it should give you some indication as to just how far out in right-field that turd was.

Uh huh... is that really how you live your life ? Contorting every which way possible, to explain things this way, just so you can give some sort of a response ?

[TitanTiger 20,708]

No, I'm saying that even if right-leaning Fox wouldn't touch it, it should give you some indication as to just how far out in right-field that turd was.

Uh huh... is that really how you live your life ? Contorting every which way possible, to explain things this way, just so you can give some sort of a response ?

Not sure what your problem is, but I'm just explaining what I was saying. People do that when someone else misinterprets their words. It wasn't a hard concept to grasp. No one would expect MSNBC to give more press to a theory that detracted from Obama's day in the sun. Fox never misses an opportunity to do so. That they chose to pass on this one should tell you about it's veracity.

How is it that you get to post nonsense and if I respond to it, I'm just trying to "give some sort of response?" Are you under the misapprehension that your throwaway quip contributed something of value?

[AURaptor 1,137]

Not sure what your problem is, but I'm just explaining what I was saying. People do that when someone else misinterprets their words. It wasn't a hard concept to grasp. No one would expect MSNBC to give more press to a theory that detracted from Obama's day in the sun. Fox never misses an opportunity to do so. That they chose to pass on this one should tell you about it's veracity.

How is it that you get to post nonsense and if I respond to it, I'm just trying to "give some sort of response?" Are you under the misapprehension that your throwaway quip contributed something of value?

If " not even FOX NEWS " could find any reason to belittle this story, why's it even a story in the first place ?

SecDef praises his boss.

Great.

And ?

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Not sure what your problem is, but I'm just explaining what I was saying. People do that when someone else misinterprets their words. It wasn't a hard concept to grasp. No one would expect MSNBC to give more press to a theory that detracted from Obama's day in the sun. Fox never misses an opportunity to do so. That they chose to pass on this one should tell you about it's veracity.

How is it that you get to post nonsense and if I respond to it, I'm just trying to "give some sort of response?" Are you under the misapprehension that your throwaway quip contributed something of value?

If " not even FOX NEWS " could find any reason to belittle this story, why's it even a story in the first place ?

*sigh*

"Not even Fox News" couldn't find a reason to regurgitate that BS story about Panetta and others essentially making the call instead of Obama. You're the one that threw that out there when you said "Where did the stories which claimed Panetta & Hillary had to convince Obama that now was the time? I heard it was " unnamed sources ", with in the WH." I was pointing out that even Fox didn't have the stones to repeat that garbage.

SecDef praises his boss.

Great.

And ?

Congratulations. Your unblemished record of getting lost in the midst of a conversation and then arguing about something else is intact.

[AURaptor 1,137]

No, the point of this thread was to heap praise on Obama for doing his job.

Great. Glad he did it. I'd even buy him a beer for a job well done.

But to trot out the SecDef for stating the obvious, as if that some how elevates Obama to some lofty position for merely doing the right thing is suppose to impress anyone.

Sorry. Not gonna happen.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

No, the point of this thread was to heap praise on Obama for doing his job.

Great. Glad he did it. I'd even buy him a beer for a job well done.

But to trot out the SecDef for stating the obvious, as if that some how elevates Obama to some lofty position for merely doing the right thing is suppose to impress anyone.

Sorry. Not gonna happen.

Then you missed the point. Again.

You asked why this was news and I told you...because of various degrees of infantile grousing on the right trying to diminish Obama's role in the operation. Whether it was minimizing the Commander in Chief's role by saying all the praise should go to the military (the minor version of it) or talking up bogus stories from unnamed sources that Obama had to be strongarmed into making the call or that it was taken out of his hands completely by Panetta and military leaders (the extreme version), it was all for one purpose: to try and preserve a talking point for next year's elections that portrays Obama as weak on defense and terrorism. Had there not been that little whisper campaign going on, you likely wouldn't see stories like this to counter it.

[AURaptor 1,137]

No one criticized Obama for making the call. It was gutsy, the right call, all well and good.

Where this administration RIGHTFULLY does get criticism is in how it handled the post game wrap up. From the releasing of the group photo , complete with Hillary's OMG! expression, to telling folks we'd release the photos of dead bin Laden, to no we won't, to the 'proper respect' given to a Muslim w/ the burial at sea, not to mention the spiking the ball over telling everyone the LIBRARY of information we got from the raid.... some things were absolutely handled poorly.

Any objective individual can state the obvious there.

And if there were such 'little whisper campaigns' going on to discredit Obama, so what ? Even the 'extremists' over at FOX news didn't pay it any mind, so all that's accomplished by highlighting that Obama really was the one who made the call, when virtually everyone should expect that to be the case to begin with, is that it comes off has being overly sensitive to the most obscure criticism.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

No one criticized Obama for making the call. It was gutsy, the right call, all well and good.

No, they just tried to imply (or outright state) that he didn't really make the call after all. That he had his hand forced by others in the administration or that the call had already been made and the plan put in motion by Panetta and military leaders and they just informed him of what was going to go down.

Where this administration RIGHTFULLY does get criticism is in how it handled the post game wrap up. From the releasing of the group photo , complete with Hillary's OMG! expression, to telling folks we'd release the photos of dead bin Laden, to no we won't, to the 'proper respect' given to a Muslim w/ the burial at sea, not to mention the spiking the ball over telling everyone the LIBRARY of information we got from the raid.... some things were absolutely handled poorly.

Some of which is valid, some of which is nitpicking and some of which is flat out wrong.

And if there were such 'little whisper campaigns' going on to discredit Obama, so what ? Even the 'extremists' over at FOX news didn't pay it any mind, so all that's accomplished by highlighting that Obama really was the one who made the call, when virtually everyone should expect that to be the case to begin with, is that it comes off has being overly sensitive to the most obscure criticism.

The message was delivered to those who needed to hear it and the rest just heard a nice story about Obama's decision making process. I don't blame them for nipping that nonsense in the bud.