Reply #17: In the real world

[The Traveler]

(and this really sucks) there were only two choices for any man asked to be SecDef under George Bush.

First, one could refuse. This is a sound moral course, but that just means Bush will find someone else. And if that someone else where less skillful at redirecting a defense and intelligence system that had veered off into the dark, or less determined to do so, that would simply allow greater harm to be inflicted.

Second, one could accept. This is a course fraught with moral as well as political dangers. It requires a deflection of the President's will as opposed to achieving a reversal of it, for that is impossible.

I don't blame Gates for getting dirty. I think greater horrors were prevented by his rational approach to things. I actually have a greater problem with Democratic leaders who refused to impeach and prosecute.

Still, I don't particularly feel good about it, nor should you ask me to trust the man. I just think there are lots of shades of gray here. I expect we will hear many new disclosures regarding the crimes of the Bush administration over the next year. These disclosures may cast Gates in a better, or a worse, light.

Trav