"Gates chokes up among cadets" - You won't believe what he told them.

[Ilsa]

Gates chokes up among cadets
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/22/gates.emotional/index.html

From Jamie McIntyre
CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates' voice cracked with emotion Monday night as he wrapped up a lesson to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Gates delivered a lengthy lecture about the complexities of war, underscoring the responsibility of junior officers to challenge their superiors even if it put their careers at risk. A tape of the talk was released by the Department of Defense's Pentagon Channel.

"I encourage you to take on the mantle of fearless, thoughtful, but loyal dissent when the situation calls for it," he urged.

SNIP

[cynatnite]

1. He's got my respect n/t

[Ian David]

2. Because fuck knows Gates himself has pussed-out. Nobody yelled out, "You FIRST, Dickhead!" ? n/t

[Dervill Crow]

3. Good for him.

:kick: and R.

[Mind_your_head]

4. So, what is he saying......

"I can't do it", but you youngbucks NEED to do it?

That would 'work'

[Subdivisions]

5. Could we finally be seeing someone, who was the administrator

at a college populated by kids the same age as the ones he's sending to die in a war he himself knows is unjust, showing a conscience?

He needs to take another couple baby steps and blow the goddamned lid off this tragedy.

[Ilsa]

12. I keep hoping. I think he deeply regrets paying back a

favor to Poppy and leaving his cushy job at TAMU. He even occasionally posted on the Tex-Ags message board forums as Ranger65, incognito. The students said he typically personally answered emails to them. They were too personal to be the work of a secretary. My dad said the local station had a long news report when he returned for a graduation ceremony, and said he was crying. I think he really misses the academic life at Texas A&M.

He isn't a great man, but at least he isn't GWB or GHWB. He seems to have a heart and a conscience. He knows whats ahead for the new military officers in front of him.

And I was glad to see he hammered the AF for their expenses and generally, nonparticipation in the occupation.

[saigon68]

18. Yes the AF wasn't killing enough towel heads for the

liking of his Masters = Gangster Cheney and the Chimpanzee

[Subdivisions]

22. "And I was glad to see he hammered the AF

for their expenses and generally, nonparticipation in the occupation."

The scum he works for need that flying hardware to kick Iran's ass.

[Ilsa]

24. Yep. Too bad. I hope we won't be doing that. nt

[MinM]

26. Ranger65

IIRC when Robert Gates revealed that he was Ranger65 -- he mentioned that the Ranger part of his handle came from his recently deceased dog. That seemed to signal some kind of change or new perspective for him then.

Whatever it is, his time at Texas A&M or soul-searching, Robert Gates seems to be a changed man from the one that defiantly thumbed his nose at Congress during the Iran-Contra hearings. Good luck, to the, 'Good Gates'. :patriot:

[catnhatnh]

6. Well Bless his heart and soul....

The last time I even imagined projectile vomitting was when I first met real Jamaican rum....It's almost like nostalgia.

[Lint Head]

7. Then why don't he tell Cheney and Bush to go

fuck themselves. :dem:

[Subdivisions]

8. Afraid to get suicided after his resignation?

:shrug:

[two gun sid]

9. Fuck you, Gates...

he told them to challenge superiors even if it put their careers at risk. Gates is a no-good apple-polishing suckass. Fuck him.

[usaftmo]

14. Exactly. I'm sure that concept

went over really well at the Pentagon.

[spanone]

10. loyal to whom

[stevedeshazer]

11. He really SAID that?

:wow:

[Ilsa]

16. Well, I wasn't there, and I suppose CNN might have the integrity to

get the story right, but it seems like he did say it. It's late chickenshit, but at least it is there, hanging out there for the cadets to ponder. Like a seed planted.

But he's chickenshit for not doing it himself.

[hvn_nbr_2]

20. He had his fingers crossed, his toes crossed, and his eyes crossed ...

and they all knew what he really meant. He was saying what he's supposed to say, and they were hearing what they're supposed to hear.

[maddezmom]

13. I do believe it and I think he might just be getting sick of the criminals he's working for

but then again, I've been known to give people the benefit of the doubt too many times. I hope I'm right this time.

[Canuckistanian]

15. Is he advocating mutiny?

With the Geneva Convention effectively nullified, OTHER servicemen and women have spoken out and been shut down completely.

What is it that junior officers should "dissent" about?

[Ilsa]

17. He should dissent and so should every other SecDef replacing him

after he's fired. That would be the only way to stop Cheney and Brush.

[Canuckistanian]

19. Considering that Bush appointees are mainly chosen for their spinelessness

Gates is a conundrum.

He's a curious mix of acquiescence and cryptic rebellion.

Also, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[Ilsa]

21. You hit the nail on the head. No way would Cheney allow Brush to

nominate anyone with a spine or an ax to grind. They agreed to Gates because Poppy wanted him and he is a decent administrator, but not a leader.

[Octafish]

25. It isn't mutiny when upholding the Constitution - 'Defend, preserve and protect' from all enemies...

...foreign and domestic.

Gates is crying because he was an Eagle Scout.
The guy's so conflicted.
First, he has given the young officers orders to find a better path out of the disastrous invasion and strategic situaion in which Bush has put the nation.
Second, Gate's begs forgiveness from the very fine people the System he represents is destroying for no logical, moral or Constitutional reason.

[Pastiche423]

23. What a weinie!

He tells the cadets to dissent because he's too much of a coward to tell the truth himself.

Sorry, he gets no brownie points from me.

[lovuian]

27. People we are getting very close to civil war and the military

is going to be where it starts at...

Gates knows ....got to say he is no Rumsfeld

It has to break his heart to see this young eager faces ready to serve this country and no that this country is corrupt in every corner

[Sinistrous]

28. But the part immediately after that quote demanded that any "dissent"

had to stay within Pentagon channels. I.e., it had to follow the old reliable "chain of command."

Nothing to admire here, folks, just more empty rhetoric from an old empty suit.