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Norton

Seems it was my post that kicked this off. BTW, to clear things up I forgot the wee squinty face in my original post so have fixed here.

Time to add my opinion I reckon.

Gates has done a good job in a tough situation. His thinking on both Iraq and Afghanistan are generally in line with Obama's. Only a positive Obama should ask him to stay on as Sec Def. Obama will likely choose retired Marine Corp Gen Jones as National Security Adviser. Jones was a critic on entering into a war in Iraq and he has very good relationship with Gates. They should make a good team.

__________________
There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.

Woodrow Wilson

raycarey

it's almost sad.

almost.

Boon Mee

Heh...takes one to know one eh, reach-around?

DrivingForce

and of course my answer to peckerwoods response ended up in MKP without his prior caustic and ignorant posts which started the entire exchange..so no bias here at all..

spiff

Erm, no, there's been a lot more. How did you miss the false claims and personal attacks towards members here?
It must be frustrating to have one's lack of reasoning and the baselessness of one's attacks pointed out. Present your thoughts more coherently and you'll be critised less.

raycarey

of course this is slightly off topic, but the gross inaccuracies in this statement merit a quick debunking.

1. the escalation of troops in iraq (nice capitalization of the surge, btw ) is not known to have had any direct influence on the current decrease in violence in iraq. in fact, it is significantly more likely that a combination of the al anbar awakening, moqtada al sadr ordering his militia to stand down, and the tragic results of years of ethnic cleansing are what decreased the chaos within iraq's borders. of course it is entirely possible that the increased troop presence may have also contributed to this, but to imply that it was the impetus, is either absurd or dishonest...and perhaps both.

2. all gates, eh? utterly ridiculous.

Texpat

Gates might well be the shining star on the Obama team.
He's got a few good years of experience...
But you'd never know it reading through Reach Around's trash in the Iraq News thread.

April 17, 2008:

This is too easy.

raycarey

good rebuttal.

Jet Gorgon

Incapable of admitting to even one of your many errors, reach around? Shame on you. What a pansy.

raycarey

enlighten me to my 'error', oh desiccated one.

Bugs

I posted some comments earlier about Hillary as SoS. But the other night I was talking with a fellow American and he posed an interesting theory about Hillary and the SoS position. Maybe Obama is putting her in the position to control her. As his SoS she is suposed to say what he wants said and better yet she is out of the senate where she could have some real influence on what goes on over there. As a topper if she does not say what he wants said he can puplicly bitch slap her by removing her from the position for not doing what he wanted done.

The last few weeks of delay have been her camp attempting to figure out a way to decline the offer with out seeming petty.

If this indeed is the case I think now she is stuck with the job - and the rumors are Obama will annouce her as the SoS soon. The time to decline was weeks ago. She could have put the thing to bed early on by leaking to the press that she did indeed meet with Obama to talk things over. There were discussions about cabinet and other positions within his administation but not for her - as she feels she can be of more good for the American people by remaining in the senate. So the discussion about such positions were simply him getting her opinion/suggestions/feedback.

__________________
"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion" - Steven Weinberg

Texpat

It's a tradeoff -- but Obama holds the cards.

If he cages her as SecState, she's the diplomatic face of the nation. A loose cannon? Probably.
If she remains in the Senate, she pushes her agendas which may not suit the Obama administration and will likely cause Dem-Dem friction at some point.

If I were Obama, I'd prefer her in State.

BTW -- Gates' soft-power approach was begun years ago. We shouldn't expect to see it as a breakthrough of the Obama miracle. I've already read one article attributing the new approach to the Messiah.

Norton

Agree. Much easier to control if she's in State job. Will be near impossible for her to mount any support in running against Obama next election and if she doesn't follow Obama policy her "resigning" would have long term negative impact on political future. Hillary must know this as well. Maybe why it is taking so long for an announcement. Possibly Hillary is considering a Supreme Court job?

Issues and disagreements will arise between her and Gates as they always do between State and Defense. Gen James as NSA has the job of keeping these disagreements from getting out of hand. Something I believe he is very capable of doing. Big failure/weakness on Condi's part as NSA in letting the rift between Rumsfeld and Powell reach the level it did. Led to many bad decisions IMO.

raycarey

while it certainly has its political advantages on the domestic front, i think there are more qualified people for the job who don't carry nearly as much baggage as she does.....john kerry for instance.

and as far as her 'going off the reservation' is concerned, i think it was thomas friedman in a recent op-ed who said that a foreign president or PM can spot daylight between a US pres and sec. of state from a thousand miles. she is, if nothing else, a political animal to her core....from where is it, picking her is just not worth the potential trouble.

and on top of all that, IMO she's far too hawkish.

i don't know if she's truly qualified, but if i were obama, i think i'd rather have her on the supreme court.....and out of politics forever.

Boon Mee

Truth be told, there's lots of folks who'd like to see her with cement wellies at the bottom of the Hudson River...

spiff

Oh really? In the tolerant US where everybody is guaranteed the Liberty to think and speak whatever takes their fancy? Some wish to censor and punish those who do?

Just an odd thought which crossed my mind, but you would not happen to be one of those?

Jet Gorgon

I posted that same view as your friend's awhile back. Mebbe you got me on ignore and didn't read it.

Boon Mee

Susan Rice's Resume -

U.N.-Ambassador-Designate Susan Rice's Greatest Hits

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