Think Progress

Gates comments ‘raised hackles’ at White House.

“Twice now in the past week, Defense Secretary Gates has raised hackles at the White House with headline-making comments on Iraq that sounded a different note from the official line,” saying that the congressional Iraq timeline debate has been helpful, and that the “clock is ticking” for the Iraqi government to make political progress.

Gates’s comments…unsettled Iraq strategists on the Bush team who fear that too many signals about the limits of U.S. patience could backfire, rather than induce the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to get its act together. “If they feel we’re going to leave, they’ll cut deals with Moqtada Sadr” and other bad guys, says one Iraq expert who consults with the White House.

A DoD official says the Pentagon has heard a “question or two” about Gates’s comments from the White House, but that is all. A White House spokesperson did not immediately return a call asking for comment.



29 Responses to “Gates comments ‘raised hackles’ at White House.”

  1. Zooey says:

    Oy mein Gott! Gates is not a yes man!?


  2. Paul Pastrano says:

    Let’s see if I understand this. If the Democrats offer a timetable for leaving Iraq, it’s the party of “cut and run.” But if a Republican does it, especially the current Secretary of Defense, it is a tactical move? Hmmm….


  3. Raven says:

    Gates must have told them the war is lost….


  4. Frank Matthews says:

    I told them not to get rid of Rummy!


  5. joe says:

    Uh, yeah, Malaki might cut deals with THE GUY HE NAMED TO HIS CABINET if we announce we’re going to leave.

    Heaven forfend. We wouldn’t want the various factions to achieve a political settlement.

    What fun in that?


  6. Vino says:

    More GOP hypocrisy on display, hard to keep track of all the ‘official’ lines. I bet Dick and Karl want to spank him when he returns from his junket.


  7. WaltTheMan says:

    I said it once and i’l say it again, GHW Bush snookered GW Bush into nominating Gates. I can imagine the father- son chat, remember Texas A&M is both the site of the GHW library and Gates’ prior job. GHW is trying to rescue his son from an ignoble fate.


  8. Raven says:

    Must have been Dubious who got his hackles in a stiffy,
    ’cause neither Karl nor Dick have any left……….


  9. whiteyfresh says:

    hallo…
    sorry i vanished for a while…


  10. Raven says:

    Here’s some good news, Dennis Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment against Chainee today.
    Michael Moore’s site has the headliner
    http://www.michealmoore.com


  11. Raven says:

    sorry folks, bad spelling, it is http://www.michaelmoore.com


  12. Zooey says:

    hallo…
    sorry i vanished for a while…
    Comment by whiteyfresh

    Geez whitey, I guess you’re NOT having a crisis…?


  13. Raven says:

    DO NOT go to the site I mistakenly posted in #10… my pop up blocker went crazy…
    Apologies again………
    (Exception: Trolls, please turn off all your anti-virus software and dive in………….)


  14. geoff says:

    ohhh… Life with out Rummy in your pocket… Or was it the other way around?


  15. Zooey says:

    Raven,

    You mis-spelled the website name. :)

    http://www.michaelmoore.com/


  16. whiteyfresh says:

    yes. i am. see previous thread…


  17. TerrytheTurtle says:

    Well Hitler shot Erst Roehm….. ooh did I just compare the current US administration to the Nazis, how gauche of me.


  18. toasterhead says:

    I find it highly dubious that this administration has even one hackle to raise, let alone multiple hackles.

    Also – I’ve never really seen a satisfactory explanation as to why giving a timeline for withdrawal would be dangerous strategically. If say we’re leaving on October 1, does that mean the Sunnis and Shi’a and Tawheeds and Jihadis and al-Qa’ida wannabes will suddenly stop bombing coalition troops and each other and save up their explosives for a big C4 orgy on September 30? Or will they just keep doing what they’re doing and just show us the usual daily bombing? If it’s the former, that’d probably be a good thing for Iraq, and if it’s the latter, what differenc does it make?

    Perhaps they’ll try a completely different tactic and send us off with flowers and tiramisu! How fun!


  19. Horny Proggy says:

    Good job Gates, now you’re fired.


  20. JPark says:

    #4 You are a moron, Frank. 2 days before Rumsfeld got canned he sent a memo to the “president” that the war was lost and had ideas for getting out of Iraq. Even that old f$ck saw reality after it had slapped him in his drooping dementia-ridden face.


  21. Roket says:

    Shame on you Gates. Bad Bushie.


  22. kasinca says:

    What are they afraid the bubble boy might hear some reality for a change? I am convinced they tell the stupid son of a bitch the shit he says everyday.


  23. JPark says:

    #22 No, Bush is like a superhero. He is impervious.


  24. Whizz Bang says:

    Do those snakes in the Bush admin even have “hackles”? Hackles are for mammals; the Bushies are cold-blooded, beady-eyed, spineless reptiles.


  25. loretta says:

    I know a couple of snakes who would take offense to that.


  26. Hector Garcia says:

    Gates, as a former CIA boss (Intelligence required) is not willing to portrait himself and the country as a bunch of retards.Price to pay too high.

    Gates is the first one who is thinking in life after the Chymp.Gates considers the Chymp and his slaves already grilled and is distancing himself a little bit from the mud.


  27. kasinca says:

    The idiots in this administration and their 28% base do not live in the reality based world…they continue to be trapped in the bubble with bubble boy Dubya.


  28. JT says:

    #7 GHW Bush is one of the few parents I would honestly believe if he said: “Yep, there’s my oldest boy. I tried to raise him up good, but he’s dumb as fence post and twice as dense.”


  29. WaltTheMan says:

    Do those snakes in the Bush admin even have “hackles”? Hackles are for mammals; the Bushies are cold-blooded, beady-eyed, spineless reptiles.

    Comment by Whizz Bang — April 25, 2007 @ 3:15 am

    Hackles are for roosters. Just ask anyone who has been tying trout and fishing flies for the last 52 years. I still have 42 necks that I purchased from Herter’s back then. My fly tying box is an oak footlocker that my Grandfather made for my father when Dad attended MIT.



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