Posted on 01/08/2014 8:32:15 PM PST by robowombat
Robert Gates' New Memoir Takes Aim at White House
By Caitlin Burke and Efrem Graham CBN News Wednesday, January 08, 2014
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates offers an unflinching account of his years serving the Bush and Obama administrations in his new political memoir, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.
Gates was a key player in some of President Barack Obama's most important national security decisions, but in his soon-to-be published book, he has some harsh words for his commander and chief.
Gates writes of everything from the War in Iraq to the death of Osama bin Laden and the escalation of the War in Afghanistan, criticizing Obama's leadership style and commitment to the mission of his troops.
"The president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his. For him, it's all about getting out," Gates wrote, recalling a 2011 meeting on the Afghan War.
Gates also recounted a conversation he heard between the president and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They were talking about their public statements criticizing President George W. Bush's to decision to send more troops into Iraq.
According to Gates, "Hillary told the president that her opposition to the surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary." Obama "conceded vaguely that opposition to the Iraq surge had been political."
Gates said that hearing those admissions was both "surprising and dismaying."
The memoir, however, is not all criticism.
Gates called President Barack Obama a man of personal integrity and he says the decision to go after bin Laden was "one of the most courageous decisions I had ever witnessed in the White House."
The former secretary of defense called Vice President Joe Biden a man of integrity as well. But he also saved some of his harshest criticisms for the president's second in command.
"I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades," Gates wrote.
The president disagrees, calling Biden "one of the leading statesmen of his time" who has helped to advance America's leadership in the world.
Still, the book won't help the president politically, especially at a time when his poll numbers have already fallen to historic lows.
Gates' memoir goes on sale Jan. 14.
Perhaps Gates should have pressed his convictions when serving as much as he presses his book when now retired. PS--He's also using the book as a resume for whatever he pursues next: "Expert Opinion" for sale. Good for him--puffery is fair game in politics.
Still, you know there is trouble when the mercenaries attack you
“I was a Wimpy White House Yes Man”
I predict history will not treat him well...and Gates is one on a list of more to come.
Robert Gates’ New Memoir Takes Aim at book profits. Where was loser Gates when it mattered?
Wimp is not how i would characterize Gates, very competent cold blooded weasel is. Gates is famous as a Teflon coated Inside the beltway survivor. The keys to his survival for decades are (1) as with Colon Powell being an abject lackey and boot licker to those above him (2) Being willing to execute whatever evil scheme his masters desire and do it in a way that no tar sticks to RG and (3) being absolutely willing to sacrifice anyone to provide protection for Robert Gates. Loyalty up was something Gates ruthlessly enforced on his staff, Loyalty Down was a concept totally alien to this reptilian character. That he should now stab one he served in the back in order to be the first to get credit for exposing what is common but still unspoken knowledge inside the Beltway bubble, that the Mahdi is driven only by the most shallow and contemptible political considerations and is surrounded by vermin of similar ilk and thus position himself for future credit of ‘Moral courage’ is just classic Robert Gates survivalism. He is very much like a reptile, he just operates on automatic stimulus /response like a rattlesnake.
The title of the book is “Duty.”
Gates obviously considered it to be his PATRIOTIC Duty to tell us that Neither Obama, Mrs. Bill Clinton or “Chains” Biden are qualified to be Commander in Chief.
The odds have been against the neo-Democrats Dole, McCain and Romney when they tried to compete with the Socialist Democrats at the Federal Level, and the neo-Democrats are stronger now than they were in 2012, and thus virtually indistinguishable from the Socialist Democrats.
The odds of Boehner’s GOP-E handing the 2016 National Election to Mrs. Bill Clinton are excellent because Boehner has refused to appoint a Benghazi Special Prosecutor.
Thus, Boehner has proven himself to be the best protector of President-to-be Mrs. Bill Clinton, because Boehner has steadfastly refused to appoint a Benghazi Special Prosecutor with legally binding subpoena powers.
Lawyer Ted Olsen would be an excellent House Appointed, Benghazi Special Prosecutor.
The best case is that Obama will be Impeached in 2014, Mrs. Bill Clinton will lose key support from financial supporters, and Biden will lose big in his first Primary Election.
BTW, what would YOU have done as your Patriotic Duty in Gates position to further the best interests of America?
I don’t understand all the pissin’ and moanin’ about this book. How is it supposed to “hurt” Barry Soetoro? He can’t run again. This “book” is a day late and a dollar short. I’m gonna take a pass. It’s a waste of time and money.
Oh, my! Call in the SS, if you can get them away from their hookers.
I’ve read all that about how he’s a wimp for not speaking out earlier, but you have to make some allowance for human nature. Who amongst us hasn’t put up with crappy bosses or done things we’d rather not have because it was part of the job and going along seemed like the lesser of two evils?
And, it’s not like this isn’t going to have impact even now. It would have been a far greater shame if he’d never spoken out at all.
Gates called President Barack Obama a man of personal integrity and he says the decision to go after bin Laden was “one of the most courageous decisions I had ever witnessed in the White House.”
You know he is lying as we know that obama refused to kill Bin Laden for nearly a year. “personal integrity” ! WHAT!
So what page in his book does Robert Gates reveal where obama was during the Benghazi attack?
Gee, he could have maybe mentioned some of this stuff in September and October of 2012, when it might have mattered.
It should be painfully obvious that everything Obama does is political. Even his supposed “brave” decision to take out Bin Laden was politically choreographed by Valerie Jarret for maximum political effect. The roll out of Obamacare was known to likely be a disaster yet before the election Obama knowingly and repetedly lied about keeping your doctor and health plan for political reasons. For this administration it is all about politics and there is not a shred of leadership, integrety or concern for the good of the country.
Gates Takes Aim at White House....
Time to pull the “change” trigger, too bad the election days are so far off..
Great ... another Beltway @sshole cashes in by writing a book about all the things that “someone else” did wrong during his tenure.
I'm sure all of us have.
The difference is that most of us don't turn around and sign book deals to point fingers at those crappy bosses years later.
When some @sshole spends $60,000 of his own money to pay lawyers and other professionals to help meet all of the reporting and disclosure requirements of a public sector job, you can rest assured that the guy has nobody's interests at heart except his own.
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