What’s Up With Gates, Anyway? Covering for the Mullahs?
Just doing what he’s told, I suppose. After all, he came into the Bush Administration expecting to supervise the retreat from Iraq and the Grand Bargain with Iran, only to find that the president wanted to up the ante in Iraq and challenge the mullahs on the ground. So Gates duly supported the surge, and perforce cracked down on Iranian activities in Iraq.
Now comes Obama, who is all about smashing al Qaeda, and making the Grand Bargain with Iran. So Gates duly blames the upsurge in violence in Iraq on al Qaeda–thoughtfully leaving Iran out of it, although they are in it up to their turbans–and warning that a military attack on Iran’s nuclear program wouldn’t really do much good.
Gates was quite categorical in testimony earlier this week to the Senate Armed Services Committee:
“The judgment of the commanders is this is an orchestrated effort on the part of al-Qaida to try and provoke the very kind of sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart in 2006.”
One wonders which commanders he’s been talking to, since a report just a few days ago from American military sources on the ground in Iraq was equally categorical in claiming that “the US has found evidence of Iranian-backed Mahdi Army leaders conducting attacks that were designed to mimic al Qaeda suicide bombings.” And the intelligence that underlies that claim was convincing enough for American forces to act, which annoyed the Iraqi Government:
The US military broke up an Iranian-backed terror cell associated with Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army during a raid in Al Kut in central Iraq. Iraqi officials are claiming the US military conducted the raid without approval.
Coalition forces killed one Iranian-backed terrorist and captured six others during a raid that targeted a financier that supports both the Mahdi Army Special Groups and the Brigade of the Promised Day.
Although the Maliki Government was upset by the American raid in Al Kut, the Iraqis are well aware of stepped-up Iranian attacks. As Bill Roggio reports, Iraqi forces have been rounding up Mahdi Army terrorists for weeks of late around Basra, from which the Brits are now exiting.
None of this seems to have found its way into Gates’s testimony. Had he spoken about such things, it would have inconvenienced the gaggle of Obaman czars and special envoys currently flooding several back channels to the mullahs in search of the evanescent Grand Bargain. For those who worry about politicizing intelligence, leaving out inconvenient details is often a sign that the intelligence is being shaped to fit the desires of the policy makers.
Then there’s the question of the Iranian bomb. Here again, Gates was quite explicit.
Use of the military option to force Iran to halt its nuclear program would only yield temporary and ineffective results, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
Sanctions would make more sense, he said.
Gates said a military attack on Iran would merely send the country’s nuclear program further underground. Instead, the United States and its allies must convince Teheran that its nuclear ambitions would spark an arms race that would leave the Islamic republic less secure.
Mr. Ledeen you are a fan of things Italian so maybe you have read “The Inferno” by Dante, and the crowd chasing the flag of advantage outside the gates of Hell.
In truth a small majority of Americans are fine with this so it will be US policy.
Heh – I knew your post was coming.
When I heard the comments by Gates, memories flooded back of my over-loaded car sliding on a cold December’s black-ice into the intersection. “Buckle your seat belts, folks. This could get… noisy.”
If you look at my previous blogs as far back as 8-12 months ago in this very forum, I have always called Gates “yellow” as well as an Appeaser of Iranian regime along with his co-Appeaser Condi Rice(may she not RIP).
The thing is that Bob “yellow” Gates has no business being our Sec of Defense when he has traits of Islamo-appeasement and frankly sounds scared of confrontation.
We would have been better off if Gates was left to rot falling into his alcohol binges(hence the always red nose) and pushed into retirement rather than heading the most powerful organization in the world in charge of safety and security of our nation’s defense. We have an Islamist Appeaser and a weakling running our Defense department who tries to sound like he knows a lot about Iran, but in fact does not know zilch about it.
The mullah regime in Iran loves people like Bob Gates, Condi Rice, Bob Kerry, Joseph Biden, Ayatollah Jimmy Carter, and the rest of the surrender-ers yellowing their pants everytime Ahmadinejad and Khamenei frown!
Shame on us for tolerating in-house treason like this to go on.
We are(and Iranian secular democracy too) are all doomed under weak and inexperienced Islamist-inclined Hussein Obama and his yet-to-come many other disasterous faux pas’s on Iran.
In 100 days Obama has authenticated all concerns, worries & nightmares about the pillars of radical ideology circumventing valid truth, reliable facts & blunt realities.
4. David P.
Agreed, unfortunately.
I am not shocked. After all his boss is for surrender. I think Mr. Gates is trying to give us a graceful defeat in the face of the overwhelming threat posed by the Islamonazis. If Obama thought Gates wouldnt play along, he would have not kept him. Right?
Boy, Obama reminds me of Jimmy Carter. But isn’t it odd how Gates wouldn’t appease Islamism before Obama, and how he now appeases Obama and Islamism. Odd indeed.
For a little more on the sanctions option see this:
http://www.jpost/.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710821258&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Sorry,
I got an extra slash in there. I’ll try again.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710821258&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
“If Obama thought Gates wouldnt play along, he would have not kept him. Right?”
Your point is well taken. Sadly, Robert Gates appears to be a survivor, first, last, and foremost. He seems to have placed his wet finger into the air to see which way the wind is blowing. And yes, Barack Obama sensed that Gates would ultimately not rock the boat.
It’s a toss up between gates and McNamara as to who is the worst Sec Def EVER. Gates was Fancy Nancy’s choice. President “All hat no cattle” Bush nominated Gates because he was trying to be bi-partisan. Naturally, that got him screwed and a hundred million or so Americans with him.
Gates only talent is for sucking up. Naturally, he sucks up to the tallest dog in the pound. I figure about the snd day of the civil war, on of the Generals he has running errands will cap his worthless ass. Nobody will miss him.
Please people give Obama’s plan to “respect” them a chance to work. Your so impatient, what’s a few more lives lost here and there, after all are Americans worth more than the people wanting to kill them?
How would you like to be in a fox hole with gates and specter?
Gates is a survivor not a patriot,he is doing waht he has to to survive. He doesn’t care what is at stake,he will be safe, shameful but he is a democrat what can anyone expect.
Why do you think the senate approved him as Sect. of Defense ? He was and still is a blame America first, Anti-American Liberal.This is the same reason Obama keeps him on.To these people Life, Liberty and the persuit of Happimess is nothing but hogwash.
This government will supply all your needs, in a pigs eye!
One of my favorite books is Beyond Belief, about the state of denial the world was in about Hitler until it was too late. Admittedly there were a few who could see what was going to happen, nonetheless the majority just sat and pretended the house was not on fire.
We all know where an Iranian bomb will lead. I wonder if the numbers of dead or potential dead will force Obama believers to reconsider their choice in 2012.
10@Lynn: “what’s a few more lives lost here and there, after all are Americans worth more than the people wanting to kill them?”
Well, yes, those Americans are our sons/daughters and husbands/wives, unlike the Iranians. Anybody who thinks there’s equivalence here has no heart or soul (which describes our President, who is an American in Name Only, despite having been born American). And if you think this whole situation is about “respect” first and foremost, then you don’t have a very good understanding of human behavior in the real world.
Michael, cultural blindness is not a reflection of politics, but of what transcends politics.
As long as the best of the West is viewed as something to apologize for by those with their hands of the levers of power – the same
mistakes will be repeated repeatedly.
Truth be told, Washington’s craven leaders – Obama, Gates and all those leading the charge to appease the mullahs- will rue the day, not if, but when an Islamic mushroom cloud hovers over western cities.
It should be noted that many aspects animate their brazen and blatant appeasement policies.However, it should not be dismissed that much of their craven policies hover around their animus towards Israel-all their protestations to the contrary.
In other words, their thinking goes, that if the mullahs can be appeased and sweetened into holding their Islamic ambitions at bay, and instead direct their rage towards Israel, their appeasement will be worth it.
The putrid truth is that all these policy makers know that Israel is the mullahs first target, and to them that is a GOOD thing. It will eliminate what they perceive is the thorn in the Islamists sides, and will keep them at bay.
What they fail to internalize is that Israel is the opening shot in their jihadist conquest. Without a doubt the US is their main target. Israel is the appetizer, Europe is the salad, but the US is the MAIN course.
“Rock the Boat” by Hues Corporation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfBwsG8ubFw
I have to say, that statement by Gates about sending Iran’s nuclear program further underground and that gobbledygook about needing to convince Iran to avoid an arms race made me laugh. I guess he’s been listening to Ray Takeyh, Vali Nasr and/or Trita Parsi.
Pathetic!
Down with the Iranian Regime and its cover uppers in USA government and in EU!
The notion that Gates, unlike Perle and Co, is not enough blue-blooded Neocon is laughable. Ledeen is nothing but another fanatic Neocon.
Do you know the full cost of the invasion of Iraq? 1.5 million Iraqis fell dead, 4.5 million refugees and nearly 5,000 American casualties and still counting…..
Zabibi is a Taliban hiding in Iran
Mr. Gates is not the issue. He was clearly speaking for the President. This is an unmistakable declaration that we will not stand in the way of the Iranian tyrants and their genocidal plans. Israel is on its own.
It is incredble that any friend of Israel voted for this re-incarnation of Chamberlain. In fairness to him, he did very little in the campaign to conceal his inclinations.
This day will rank with Munich in the history of the appeasement of tyrants and the abandonment of small, inconveniently located allies.
We have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
Zajebibi; your rant is not worthy of any meaningful polemic. The only response it deserves is a laughter, a belch and a fart. Now I feel better…
Donald Rumsfeld was the greatest American secretary of defense in my lifetime. Intelligent, creative, forthright. Brought down by anklebiters, alas. I miss him dearly.
#18 Geofizz,
I thought Lynn’s sarcasm was think enough for the web. Sarcasm can sometimes be hard to discern on the internet, if the sarcasm is too subtle, but I think hers was thick enough to show that she meant the opposite of what she seemed to be saying.
Zabibi,
Your Islamofascist master is calling you. Go get your dog bisuit treat, little lapdog.
#29 Adina,
I’m not sure the clowns are thinking in quite so rational a fashion as you imply. There are a lot of jerks who would breathe a sigh of relief if Israel disappeared, including many at Foggy Bottom and Langley I don’t doubt, but they do not believe it will actually happen. The appeasers do not actually take what Ahmedinutjob and his ilk say seriously. They also do not conprehend the role of religion in the world, since their own is tepid at best.
I sometimes think that if Gorilla Boy in Tehran was ranting in Christian terms, rather than speaking in the idiom of Shi’a apocalypticism (as we might call it), not only would everybody in the West immediately comprehend what a nutcase and danger he and his pals are, they’d also demand that the US stop them, no matter what it took. A friend of mine, however, thinks that they would be too complacent and cyniucal even for that, and prefer appeasement even if Ahmediwhackjob spoke in a more familiar Christian apocalypticist idiom.
For years now I have been convinced that nothing will be done to stop the Ayataollahs. They will get their nukes and they will use them, because no one has the courage to stop them. They plan on using them against Israel first then against the USA and Britain. Once they use them, though, Iran will be subject to retaliation and nuclear devastation. I have it in the back of my mind that Gorilla Boy and his owner El Supremo Religious Guide may think that Allah will pluck out of the sky any missiles sent their way. If they do they will have a surprise coming. I can only pray that those antimissile defenses Israel has will work, and that no terrorist bomb will get through, and the same for the USA.
I think the only thing that might, might, convince the Ayatollahs that nukes will endanger Iran’s security is to bluntly and overtly threaten them that when they test or use a nuke, the whole country will be turned into a radioactive parking lot. But they won’t beleive that, and I doubt there is any American President who would do it before Iran dumped a nuke on us.
So Iran will get nukes, Iran will use nukes and Iran will receive massive retaliation. If the Iranians don’t want that they must overthrow these scum in power over them now, and repudiate their whole foreign policy.
By the very nature of his agitproppin’, Grand Ayatollah Bin Ladeen raises obvious questions about State and Mosque, or, more concretely, about the incongruities and discomforts that arise as between _La démocratie en Amérique_ on the one hand, and Theocracy in Action (so to christen it) on Mullah Mikey’s side.
No doubt His Eminence seeks “only” a spiritual supremacy. That kind of “only” is what they all say, all the neo-heroes of the resurgent First Estate, not just here in the _Geheimatland Gottes_ but amongst alien and bewildered Lesser Breeds Without as well. And no doubt–almost no doubt–everybody ought to grant the subjective sincerity of religionizin’ neoheroism. Tommy Torquemada and Mikey Bin Ledeen really and truly do think that what they think their Father Zeus would think about human events is really and truly right and righteous and rightist. However, keep an eye on your political wallet whenever you have dealings with militant extremist First Estaters, Mr. Bones! To grant that they are sincere must not be allowed to become perverted into allowing them one whit more than one (1.00) vote apiece _per capita_. One vote at most.
Unlike our poor Secretary of War, sir, you and I can at least not be stabbed in the back by the likes of His Eminence. SECWAR, a Big Management Party and AEIdeological neocomrade himself, must find it tryin’ to be harangued by this nominal friend and ally as if he were Eichmann in the dock. “Just doing what he’s told,” supposes the Grand Ayatollah in dulcet tones. Indeed! [1]
Sincere though he is, His Eminence would not be caught moanin’ like this if SECWAR was just doin’ what Bin Ledeenism expects of the devotee. And that is a very old song, for all that the GOP geniuses of 2009 and their base and vile manage to sing it with a stridency unmatched hitherto. Especially strident are they at the moment, of course, since as luck would have it, Providence was not on their side last November. “What went wrong?” Why do Father Zeus and Mlle. du Main Invisible permit bad elections to happen to regular Republicans?
Well, you and I had better steer clear of the deep waters of neocomradely theodicy, Mr. Bones. It is not as if any of their steel-claptrap-minded sermonettes on that topic are likely to be significant to decent political adults. The great thing for thee and me to remember, sir, is that we won because more Homelanders™ voted for _La Démocratie en Amérique_ than for the Theocracy-On-the-March crew’s competitive product. To attempt profundities about WHY most Homelanders™ so voted is far over the present keyboard’s humble head: _vado in mirabilibus supra me._
Let us humbly resolve not to fall into any wingnutoid notions about it being ‘natural’ when the party of America prevails over America’s Otherparty and the economic OnePercenters and the neotheos of militant extremist BinLedeenism, but somehow less natural the other way around. Everything political is artificial from stem to stern, Mr. Bones. Always has been, always will be. Period.
Though it helps greatly with bozo spoofery, the fact that Grand Ayatollah Mikey Bin Ledeen happens to purport to be an expert on the evil Qommies should not be treated as supremely important for the general theory of the First Estate ResuRGence problem. Everybody who claims more than that 1.000 vote _per capitum_ already mentioned on the basis of “only” some _geistlich_ brand of superiority is part of the problem. The insolence of First Estate neoterics marches to the tune “Kindly let me vote for you because I am a credentialled expert whereas you are only a silly lay goose!”
The Grand Ayatollah *does* push his militant extremism to the point of expectin’ SECWAR to kindly let His Eminence make foreign- and agression-policy decisions for him on that same basis, but perhaps if the President had made a less unreasonable appointment, Muscle Mikey would save his breath to cool his mess of pottage? His Eminence pretty clearly thinks Mr. Gates is bullyable, as a genuine adherent to the party of America would probably not be. There can be very few on the better side of the aisle who have much patience with little Ayatollah Mikey; to be informed that His Eminence thinks he is headed straight for Hell in a handbasket would most likely please and fortify a SECWAR drawn from America’s party — i.e., from the party of success and victory as of 4 November 2008.
For that matter, Mr. Gates may think so too, him bein’ at least not a blatantly Limblovian or Coulterian sort of Big Party neocomrade. Who knows, Mr. Bones? Maybe in his secret heart, Secretary Gates is an Arlen Specter neocomrade! It is not easy for mer to imagine that there is only one of that breed in three hundred million holy-Homelanders™.
___
[1] An intelligent Martian might be puzzled to find any representative of Party ’n’ Ideology whatsoever suggestin’ that there might be somethin’ wrong with just doing what one has been told to do. How shall the Employer Classes maintain their divinely predestined ascendancy over the other ninety-nine percent of US, if the hired hands start taking anti-Eichmannism seriously?
But the trouble with intelligent Martians is, so to rhetoricize, that they all think in PowerPoint® rather than in a natural language. If they possessed more ‘feel’ or flair for conditions in our holy Homeland™, they would appreciate that His Eminence is not really playin’ with matches here, because none of the dupes and marks and fellow-travelers of the Big Party and the AEIdeology is likely to fancy herself in Obersturmbannführer Eichmann’s jackboots. The way Wingnut City and Rio Limbaugh wallow in collective self-esteemin’ would be sufficient by itself to prevent any such lines of thought from gettin’ started in the heads of Party base and vile.
In fact, the Grand Ayatollah is safer still, because what _amour propre_ started has been finished off and perfected by years and years of scrupulous wombschoolin’. The late Col. Eichmann does not even *begin* to be visible from any womb on the block in the more respectable proletarian quarters of Wingnut City and Rio Limbaugh. His Eminence’s present scribble leads naturally to a suspicion that the man has become almost inaudible as well as entirely invisible. I suspect many of the sweet puppies of the Endarkenment would still understand the words “Eichmann defense” if they collided with them headlong, but to work out that that is what Mullah Mikey is talkin’ ’bout when His Eminence does not label the product explicitly is too stiff a challenge. But God knows best.
Gates would dress up in Victoria’s Secrets finest and parade down Pennsylvania Ave if Ahmadinejad asked him to.
I read that Gates is on interim that he is still in position to train his follower
though he managed that the congress voted the defense budget that was in the files last year
Alger accords concerned Iran and Irak relations, they were made during Chah regime. At the end of the Iran/Irak war, Saddam and Khomeini agreed to return on their basis, and rleased their mutual prisonners.
It wasn’t question of the American prisonners at the embassy
Now Brzezinski was/is the person that pulls the strings behind the curtain, so if you want to know more what future is forecasted for Iran, you’d better take Brzezinski in hostage and waterboard him to get some infos
Initially, I was glad that the Obama administration retained Gates. (many of the other appointees seem of questionable moral character, it was a transcendent moment today to hear Timothy Geither going on about those nasty, corporate offshore tax cheats)
Now (and for awhile) I’ve been wondering if the Obama administration retained Gates because of a perception they could turn him into a SpokesPuppet.
Today, Gates, on an airplane, was muttering something about the Saudis helping us out in Pakistan.
The damage this administration is doing will haunt us for years. The blithering idiots really have no clue about fighting wars or fixing the economy. I said all along that the dems don’t care about anything but gaining control of government. Well, they’re here and we’re stuck with it for another 3.5 years. Let’s hope there’s some semblance of the America we knew by the time we throw the bums out. Until then puppets like Gates will continue to dance to Obama’s socialist agenda. Is Gates that dumb to believe what his mouth uttered? Iran forges ahead with its plans to eliminate Israel and dominate the Middle East. Obama’s logic as mouthed by his puppet makes no sense. How can Obama be so adamant about confronting the Taliban and not be as adamant about confronting the larger and more ominous Mullahnazis? Talks haven’t halted Iran’s march toward the nuclear goal line. It’s first and goal for the Mullahs and if they score they win the game! Meanwhile, Gates is in a daze like a cornerback who just got beat on a 50 yard bomb. Gates, get your head out of your butt and back into the game. Coach Obama has no plan to defeat the Tehranosauras Drex (a take off on “drek”, a yiddish word meaning filth). Coach Herm Edwards as coach of the NY Jets put it simply “You play to win the game” certainly Obama and Gates are not playing to win and we all will lose.
Marie Claude — J’adores ce que vous avez dit sur Brezhenski: ” you’d better take Brzezinski in hostage and waterboard him to get some infos”…
Hahaha! Je pense que il faut certainment bien “water board” ca vieux alcolique vautour, Zbigniew la merde!!
Vous etes tres drole! Merci pour ca joke.
Saahel, I really think he is avieux vautour, alcoolique, je ne sais pas, he’s done so many malicious projects for ME, that we are all reconaissant to him for the big mess
Oui! He is a Euro-traditionalist pro Islamist operative within US system– accepted plant as such
Hope he dies soon! lol
Here Mullahs are purchasing Biological agent from France and Bob ‘yellow’ Gates is jerking us off on Iran regime. He is either an Idiot or a Traitor trying to deceive us into submission to the Islamists. I vote for both!
Here is the article in WA Times on Iran regime buying ‘the deadliest biological agent on the planet,
and Bob Gates keeps jerking off on Iran like he does:
French pharmaceutical company Ipsen has been providing raw botulinum toxin to the University of Tehran and the Pasteur Institute of Iran ostensibly for medical-research purposes.
Botulinum is one of the most lethal biological agents in the world. Under certain circumstances, a single gram can kill more than a million people.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/23/the-toxin-trade-foreign-firms-can-pick-the-mullahs/
Look, this fellow Gates along with Brezhenski and Bob Kerry(who called for a US policy of No Regime Change in Iran today)have all been in the business of sucking up to the mullahs for a long time– All 3 believe in hard back-pedalling in the middle east and in particular kneeling before Iranian mullahs. Kerry and EU lapdog mullah Khatami of Iran are both freemasons of the EU’s worst kind and follow the same agenda.
They met at Davos conference a few years back and short of hugged and kissed.
Here is a 2004 paper along the same retreating vein by Gates and Brezhenski(see below).
God forgive “W” and his fine selection of Gates for Sec of D. cause I never will. No wonder Hussein Obama left Gates intact.
Zbigniew Brzezinski and Robert M. Gates, cochairs, Iran: Time for a New Approach (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2004). Accessed at http://www.cfr.org/pdf/ Iran_TF.pdf.
Don’t you wish Bob Yellow Gates was as clear and to the point with Iran regime too?
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/north_korea_nuclear/2009/05/30/219807.html
Apparently, his bosses told him the war needs to happen as far away from Iran as possible.
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