Sec. of Def. Gates Memoir - Hillary and Obama Opposed Iraq Surge for Political Reasons

Gates is a lying politician trying to make a few bucks. The more publicity a book gets, the more money can be made. Maybe he's telling the truth, who knows? But if you think this will help the Republicans defeat Hillary, you're delusional. The Republicans already have a plan to lose the 2016 presidential election.

They will nominate someone "electable". Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Is this your prediction? If you are right it will be groundbreaking. JD believes the Democrats elect the Republican candidates.

Less than two weeks after 9/11, Bush gave a speech to Congress. Hillary was in the audience as New York Senator. She had a very glum and annoyed expression on her face. It wasn't annoyance over the murder of 3,000 of our citizens by those punks who flew the planes into the WTC and Pentagon. No, Hillary looked glum because she knew Bush was shooting up in the polls. During a crisis, Americans always rally around the President and this was obviously bothering her. My own personal disgust with Hillary Clinton crystallized at that moment. I realized it's all about politics to her, even a national tragedy like 9/11.

So the revelation in Gates' new book that her positions on war and foreign policy are shaped not by a careful weighing of US national interests, but by purely domestic political considerations, comes as no shock. THAT'S WHO SHE IS. Hillary doesn't put country first, she puts Hillary first. Her position on the surge in Iraq? What do the polls say? Can I win the Democratic nomination if I support it? If I oppose the surge and it succeeds, will I pay a price politically? Those are the only questions she cares about. The lives of our soldiers and the long-term interests of our country are just secondary things she has to pay lip service to.

All you libtards who keep asking why Republicans won't stop banging the drums on Benghazi - THIS IS WHY. Benghazi epitomizes the way Obama and Hillary will always put politics ahead of country and ahead of doing the right thing. Blaming that video for the deaths in Benghazi was so ludicrously offensive that we need to keep bringing it up again and again. It's a reminder. How can anyone possibly feel secure knowing that these convictionless political weathervanes are the ones taking the 3am phone calls?

This is a real scandal, and needs to be investigated in broad daylight. But don't get the idea that the Republicans are righteous in this. They want to exploit this for their political gain, too. If this had happened during a Republican administration we'd see the same charade played out, but the Democrats would be demanding the investigation, and the Republicans would be fighting to cover it up.

It never matters who is hurt or killed. The only thing that matters to either major party is how can they spin what happens to their advantage.

Gate's words:

“There are no evil people in this book,” he says, his voice soft and creaky. “There are no villains. And certainly not the two presidents. . . . And I think if people read the whole book, as opposed to cherry-picking sentences, then I think it’s pretty hard to say that I vilify anybody.”

Going to be a very good read.

You meant to say that the democrat are scared shitless of Sarah Palin. That is primal fear which you can see in the way that you all react to anything she does even when she is not a declared candidate. Hillary has been and will be a candidate. She is corrupt, deceitful, ideological, and anti-American. Everyone should be afraid of her (and a lot of democrats are) Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

You are truly delusional Admiral. There is nobody the democrats would rather have as the Republican candidate for POTUS in 2016 than Palin.

Here Admiral, I posted this up for you again. I guess you didn't see it the first time.

Former SecDef Gates has made some comments critical of Obama and Hillary in his new book and you have treated them as the gospel truth.

Here's what he has previously said about Benghazi. Do you agree with SecDef Gates' comments on Benghazi as well? The rest of you chuckleheads that are leading the parade about Gates' comments in this book can chime in here as well. Why is he right now but he was wrong then?

Since the whackos are apparently attaching reverential significance to every utterance in former SECDEF Gates forthcoming book....let's make sure we remember what he said about the supposed terrorist attack in Benghazi. Pay attention now, Admiral....

>>>>>Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates forcefully defended the Obama administration on Sunday against charges that it did not do enough to prevent the tragedy in Benghazi, telling CBS' "Face the Nation" that some critics of the administration have a "cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces."

Gates, a Republican who was appointed by then-President George W. Bush in 2006 and agreed to stay through more than two years of President Obama's first term, repeatedly declined to criticize the policymakers who devised a response to the September 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
"Frankly, had I been in the job at the time, I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were," said Gates, now the chancellor of the College of William and Mary.
"We don't have a ready force standing by in the Middle East, and so getting somebody there in a timely way would have been very difficult, if not impossible." he explained.
Suggestions that we could have flown a fighter jet over the attackers to "scare them with the noise or something," Gates said, ignored the "number of surface to air missiles that have disappeared from [former Libyan leader] Qaddafi's arsenals."
"I would not have approved sending an aircraft, a single aircraft, over Benghazi under those circumstances," he said.

Another suggestion posed by some critics of the administration, to, as Gates said, "send some small number of special forces or other troops in without knowing what the environment is, without knowing what the threat is, without having any intelligence in terms of what is actually going on on the ground, would have been very dangerous."
"It's sort of a cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces," he said. "The one thing that our forces are noted for is planning and preparation before we send people in harm's way, and there just wasn't time to do that."

Gates said he could not speak to allegations that the State Department refused requests for additional security in the months prior to the attack. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been increasingly targeted for criticism by Republicans for her handling of the crisis and the government's response, with some even raising the possibility that the State Department engineered a coverup to protect her political future.

But when Gates was asked whether he thought that might be a possibility, he replied flatly, "No."

"I worked with Secretary Clinton pretty closely for two and a half years, and I wouldn't want to try and be somebody...trying to convince her to say something she did not think was true," he said, adding that he has not spoken with Clinton about the events in Benghazi."

Pick and choose now boys. Pick and choose. Admiral, you need to respond directly to this you fucking numbskull. We'll wait. Originally Posted by timpage

Another "scandal"?

This is a real scandal, and needs to be investigated in broad daylight. But don't get the idea that the Republicans are righteous in this. They want to exploit this for their political gain, too. If this had happened during a Republican administration we'd see the same charade played out, but the Democrats would be demanding the investigation, and the Republicans would be fighting to cover it up.

It never matters who is hurt or killed. The only thing that matters to either major party is how can they spin what happens to their advantage. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Robert Gates left the office of Secretary of Defense in 2011. Benghazi happened in 2012. You got any other easy targets to shoot down. His experience with the military is just as valid as MY experience in the military which you attack constantly. Unlike Gates I was part of an operation to rescue personnel at a US embassy. Unless the military has changed drastically I think I may have better insight than someone who used to be the SecDef if the event occurred a year after he left.

Robert Gates left the office of Secretary of Defense in 2011. Benghazi happened in 2012. You got any other easy targets to shoot down. His experience with the military is just as valid as MY experience in the military which you attack constantly. Unlike Gates I was part of an operation to rescue personnel at a US embassy. Unless the military has changed drastically I think I may have better insight than someone who used to be the SecDef if the event occurred a year after he left. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

You owe me a keyboard Admiral. I just spit Diet Coke all over mine roaring in laughter.

Did you parachute in, knife some sentries, call in some airstrikes and rescue a damsel in distress? You are a sad little man.

Whatever I did, it was more than Gates or You.

and if I have to be specific (because Eva is following me), I'm talking about my military service and not public service. My military service is at least four times longer as I rose through ranks and got experience. Gates spent most his time learning CIA spycraft rather than serving as a regular officer.

JD has seen too many Rambo movies, and thinks I really give a shit about him.

Robert Gates left the office of Secretary of Defense in 2011. Benghazi happened in 2012. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

Too bad. If Gates had still been there he could have written about Benghazi in his book and it would have been extremely unflattering to Odumbo.

Let's see what we know happened... A brief 5pm meeting in the situation room, then everyone yawns and goes home for dinner... Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other Americans are murdered... Odumbo wrapped up the meeting this way - "Sorry guys, I gotta go to bed early tonight, Harry's invited me to a big Vegas fund raiser tomorrow, wake me up when you arrest the guy who made that Innocence of Muslims video..."

Whatever I did, it was more than Gates or You.

and if I have to be specific (because Eva is following me), I'm talking about my military service and not public service. My military service is at least four times longer as I rose through ranks and got experience. Gates spent most his time learning CIA spycraft rather than serving as a regular officer. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

Well, you are after all....an Admiral.

You're also obviously either mentally ill or so fearfully stupid that you are beyond help.

Let me just make sure I understand what you're throwing out here: you think your alleged time in the Navy makes you more qualified to offer opinions regarding the tactical and strategic capabilities of our armed forces on the night of the Benghazi attacks than the Secretary of Defense of the United States?

Are you fucking high?

Remind us all what you claim you did in the Navy? Admittedly, almost everything you post is immediately forgettable, but didn't you claim to be an electrician or something? And, now you claim to have participated in embassy rescues (did you rewire the place or something?) and are an expert in sea, air and land warfare? You are more knowledgeable than Robert Gates on these matters?

Too bad. If Gates had still been there he could have written about Benghazi in his book and it would have been extremely unflattering to Odumbo.

Let's see what we know happened... A brief 5pm meeting in the situation room, then everyone yawns and goes home for dinner... Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other Americans are murdered... Odumbo wrapped up the meeting this way - "Sorry guys, I gotta go to bed early tonight, Harry's invited me to a big Vegas fund raiser tomorrow, wake me up when you arrest the guy who made that Innocence of Muslims video..." Originally Posted by lustylad

really"

read the quote in the link I purposely leave in my tag line .

Too bad. If Gates had still been there he could have written about Benghazi in his book and it would have been extremely unflattering to Odumbo.

Let's see what we know happened... A brief 5pm meeting in the situation room, then everyone yawns and goes home for dinner... Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other Americans are murdered... Odumbo wrapped up the meeting this way - "Sorry guys, I gotta go to bed early tonight, Harry's invited me to a big Vegas fund raiser tomorrow, wake me up when you arrest the guy who made that Innocence of Muslims video..." Originally Posted by lustylad

You must have served as an assistant to the Admiral, right, when he was commanding a platoon of SEAL Recon Ranger electricians responsible for electrical combat operations? So, you could soak up all that strategic and tactical knowledge he absorbed while changing light bulbs on some supply ship....right halfwit?