Has Gates Gone Off The Reservation?

By Cernig

Is Defense Secretary Robert Gates becoming a loose cannon for the Bush administration, telling the truth when the preferred narrative is otherwise?

Maybe.

First he said the Dem-driven debate in Congress about Iraq was a good thing:

Gates, on a Middle East tour, called for a range of efforts from inside and outside Iraq to speed up the formation of a broad-based government of Iraq's majority Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

...."The debate in Congress ... has been helpful in demonstrating to the Iraqis that American patience is limited," Gates told Pentagon reporters traveling with him in Jordan. "The strong feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably has had a positive impact ... in terms of communicating to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment."

Then today, there's this:

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff with Iran over its disputed nuclear program are ``working.''

Both the U.S. and Israel accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons - a charge Iran denies. The U.S. has led efforts at the United Nations to impose sanctions on Iran.

Gates said at a news conference with his Israeli counterpart, Amir Peretz, that diplomatic efforts should be given a chance to succeed.

So is Gates "off the reservation"? Our pal Blue Gal certainly thinks so. In comments to Kevin Drum's post asking that question, she pointed to possible motives:

I said a few days ago that aWol screwed Gates when he threatened to extend tours when it was a done deal. I also said I think they underestimate Gates and that way lies doom...I think that it is about to get really interesting. I think Gates is playing chess with checkers men.

And last week she wrote:

He left his academic position and took the DoD job in good faith. And how have these loyalty-is-a-one-way-street, Mayberry Machiavelli's repaid him? Four months on the job, the president is looking for a "War Czar" and screwing his SoD in public announcements about tour extensions.

Now I am no fan of Bob Gates. I absolutely detest him. Not because he is a Republican, but because I know his past work. He is an ideologue of the first order and the original facts fixer. But I'm not stupid. I know skill when I see it. Where Rumsfeld was a bureaucratic knife-fighter, Gates is the guy who would poison the coffee pot, pour himself a cup of tea and go to his office and quietly work through the morning and then step over the bodies on the way to lunch.

I don't like him, but I don't underestimate him.

But something tells me aWol does. And that way, my friends, might lie his doom...and a bit of redemption for Bob Gates.

If Blue Gal is right - and she certainly seems to be ahead of the curve here - then I would say it is Cheney who has the most to worry about. He's managed to leash Pace again, but Gates may be a very different prospect - he knows where the bodies are buried from waaaaay back.