Gates: I Would Recommend That The President Veto Giving Troops More Time At Home
Gates: I Would Recommend That The President Veto Giving Troops More Time At Home
The Washington Post reported this morning that one of the “best opportunities” for war critics “to change policy” in Iraq is an amendment by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), which would “mandate that home leaves for troops last as long as their deployments.” The measure failed in July to break a Republican filibuster, “but it appears to be gaining momentum in the Senate.”
On Fox News Sunday this morning, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he would recommend that the President veto the bill should it pass. “Yes, I would,” said Gates when asked by host Chris Wallace, calling it a “well-intentioned idea” that would “pose greater risk to our troops”:
GATES: I think that it’s a well-intentioned idea. I think it’s really, pretty much, a back door effort to get the President to accelerate the drawdown, so that it’s an automatic kind of thing rather than based on the conditions in Iraq, with all the consequences that I talked about earlier. I think, if as I believe, the President would never approve such a bill. It would mean, if it were enacted, we would have force management problems that would be extremely difficult and in fact create, I think affect combat effectiveness, and perhaps pose greater risk to our troops.
Watch it:
Later in the show, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), whose son is set to deploy to Iraq in 2008, responded to Gates, arguing that the Webb measure is necessary because the “long-term consequence” of “these kind of deployments is absolutely disastrous for the United States of America and for the United States military.”
“If you don’t figure out how to get these folks some time home, you are gonna break, break this military,” said Biden. He also said that Gates’ concerns were overblown because “we can do what we need to do in Iraq with significantly fewer troops”:
BIDEN: What are the consequences of continuing to do what we’re doing with essentially the way in which we’re deploying these troops? As the military said we’re breaking, we’re breaking the United States military. Flat breaking it. And what we’re doing is we’re going to end up in a situation where you don’t have people signing up. you’re gonna end up having to go to draft. This long-term consequence, keeping these kind of deployments is absolutely disastrous for the United States of America and for the United States military. It’s not a good thing the other way either. You choose two very bad alternatives. One very bad and one okay. If you don’t figure out how to get these folks some time home, you are gonna break, break this military. That’s what this is about. and we can do what we need to do in Iraq with significantly fewer troops. That is my contention and the contention of a whole lot of other people outside this administration.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army Chief of Staff, and other leading generals agree with Biden that the military has been stretched to a breaking point. The Webb amendment is a crucial first step towards guaranteeing it doesn’t actually break.
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Nice spin, Gates. While the Webb amendment is obviously about supporting the troops (by trying to keep as many of them from stressing out and going insane as possible), Gates is suggesting that the Webb amendment will actually HARM the troops.
If the president truly thinks this war is a righteous one, he should reinstate the draft to get the troops he needs instead of destroying the ones we have.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:20 amBla Bla Bla
You KNOW DAMN WELL there will be 150,000 troops in Iraq next September 16th dont you?
Dont You ??????
The Iraq Clusterf*ck is going to bankrupt and Wreck America.
And the Military is already broke.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:22 am“who’s son” should be “whose son”.
The possessive case of who is whose, not who’s.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:25 amEndless deployments for endless war! Hopefully the Bush can offer up 10 billion more dollars for an Iraqi jobs program while GOP congressmen complain about “domestic pork” spending.
I mean why spend money in America when we can build schools in Iraq?
-GSD
September 16th, 2007 at 11:26 amThe soldiers in the Military have no leaders that care about them. All the paid Bush Generals and Gates don’t care how many soldiers die just stay the course for the Iraq oil. It’s all about oil it has never been about anything else with this Administration. The President read a letter from a fallen soldier’s Mother who asked they we stand in Iraq even if more soldiers die but she was never told it was only for Oil that her son died. No relief for our troops but we see Americans on their vacations and the President has move time on vacation then in Washington. Every soldiers that dies could have been alive if we had stopped this insane President/ oil greedy Vice President and the paid supporters. What’s really sad is the Media spins/blames/lies for the White House.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:27 amI would suggest that if this measure passes Congress and is sent on to Bush and he vetoes it, that should be the ’straw that breaks the camel’s back’ and both he and Cheney should be impeached for treason and the inhumane treatment of American forces in Iraq.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:29 amThere is one way to address the manpower shortage and abuse of those serving endlessly in Iraq. That is to jack up the pentagon and flush out the available troops who reside there. These “office pogs” (as we used to call them) are soldiers and it is time for them to stand up for the militaryand their country.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:32 amfootsore
Don’t you know that asking for this is ridiculous? I mean, look at the genius of the Kagans, who have contended the obvious: the best way to give the troops more time at home is to WIN THE WAR!
See! It’s just that simple! RETURN TO SUCCESS!!!
September 16th, 2007 at 11:37 amDammit…my last post ate my sarcasm tag. Well, not sarcasm, more like ‘dripping, frothing snark’.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:39 amTalk about doublethink.
Helping the troops = Harming the troops.
*facepalm*
~Sean
September 16th, 2007 at 11:43 amWow. Way to support the troops, Republicans. Does anyone seriously believe the GOP will survive much longer?
September 16th, 2007 at 11:48 amRobert “Slow Bleed” Gates reporting for duty.
-GSD
September 16th, 2007 at 11:53 amAre the dangers that “breaking” our military represents to America and American citizens LESS critical to the Bush administration than their desire to continue to prop-up a failing Iraqi government? Isn’t serving the needs of Americans more important that serving the needs of a Bush-backed government regime in Iraq that can’t even provide security, water, electricity or political compromise after 4.5 years of Bush-backing? How much more does our country and our people have to suffer and risk to save the political legacy of a failed incompent president? IMPEACHMENT IS THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THIS MANIAC!
September 16th, 2007 at 11:54 amWill Bush take enough time from brush cutting to kick our weary troops in the face?
September 16th, 2007 at 11:55 amJust when I think Gates is a rational voice caught in the middle of the administration quagmire, he says something like this. I believe someone has gotten to him. No rational person can look at the state of the troops and see the harm this is doing to them and their families and not support more downtime. For shame, Gates.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:57 amWhy is it that in a nation of 300 million, with potentially 30 million or more of military age and aptitude, we don’t have far, far more troops than we need to fight America’s wars? Why aren’t there enough troops to allow home deployments equal to the deployment time in Iraq? Why is this even an issue? Why aren’t hundreds of thousands of Americans volunteering to fight this war, in the same way that an entire generation of young Americans volunteered to fight in World War II? Could it be that most Americans recognize this as a war of choice where the security of America is not at stake? Americans aren’t quite as stupid as the right wing thinks.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:02 pmSen. Joe Biden is correct, Baker’s deployment plan ( Baker is the one that decided to extend deployments to 15 mo ) is further breaking the military.
Many are already on their 3rd or 4th deployment since this war began.
All because this administration wanted to lie to us and start a war of conquest for OIL in Iraq.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:02 pmMeanwhile, Blackwater mercenaries have their bibles stuffed with our tax dollars. Bush and GOP seem hell bent on running the military and the economy into the ground.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:04 pmLet Bush have his way. If the Dems come to the rescue now and end the war the GOP will just use it against them and claim THEY lost the war. Give the GOP all the rope it wants. They say victory is right around the corner? Great, can’t wait to see it. Hope the troops don’t mutiny on you guys much. Could be embarrassing.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:05 pmComment by Billy — September 16, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
The GOP will lie and blame anybody other than their own worthless selves no matter what we do. It’s just what they do. Assigning blame to GOP is not a cause worth dieing for. It is clear beyond doubt to thinking people where the blame lies for this fiasco in Iraq. But I would enjoy watching a mutiny, troops taking the White House back….nice image.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:11 pmBush-Cheney-Rumsfeld with their shortsightedness and refusal to allow, let alone follow advice from the military are breaking the Rumsfeld-pared down force which was never sufficient for the Afghanistan + Iraq missions and which leaves us nearly naked and impotent if there were a serious challenge elsewhere. Gates is right that the current Bush-Cheney mission is unsustainable , but the health of the force is also unsustainable. The all-volunteer force is crumbling and it has the administration to thank for it. And the megalomaniacs want to attack Iran??? Impeachment isn’t the solution–committment to an institution for treatment is!
September 16th, 2007 at 12:11 pmGates is another charlatan whose patriotism is in serious question with this flagrant “abuse” of our military! Another Bush poodle.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:14 pmDoc Rock: How about this? Impeachment first and get them outta here and then institutionalize them for profound psychiatric pathology??
September 16th, 2007 at 12:14 pmTime to confiscate the “ranch” in Crawford and build a facility for weary PTSD troops to rest and receive the care they need and deserve.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:16 pm“Let Bush have his way. If the Dems come to the rescue now and end the war the GOP will just use it against them and claim THEY lost the war. Give the GOP all the rope it wants.
Comment by Billy”
I have two problems with this tactic.
1- I can’t support a tactic that throws away lives. How many soldiers are you willing to let die or become mulitated, or have their brains scrambled, or have their families fall apart so you can rub the war in the republcan’s noses?
2-They’re going to blame the dems anyway. this is bush’s plan. run out the clock claiming that victory is just around the corner until someone else is in office, then, when the enevitable finally happens and president 44, or 45, or 46 finally gets the courage to admit this has been a hopeless folly from the start and pulls our troops out bush and his neocon apologists in the msm, right wing church pews, barstools and boardrooms will all claim that if only we’d stayed the course blah blah blah.
It’s time to call bush on his bull now. yesterday. last year. leting him continue to skate is a mistake.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:24 pmThis is 21st century trench warfare. Field Marshal Joffre, absolutely convinced he was right and with no feelings for the men under his command, equated his ideas with France’s sacred honor, and proceeded to attack the enemy where they were strongest (hint: the word you’re looking for is ‘weakest’) and throwing hundreds of thousands of men at fortified emplacements, creating a bloodbath that dwarfed evrything before, and was far worse than any world war II battles.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:31 pmBut Joffre just stayed the course, and an entire generation of european men died.
Yes, Germany surrendered, because they were just as exhausted, but France became an empty uniform, so depleted that this generation doesn’t believe that they were ever anything but a joke. Had it not been for World war I becoming a human meatgrinder, the Russian Revolution might never have happened, and we would have had neither Hitler nor Stalin.
And Field Marshal Bush has equated his stupid tactics with the Honor of America, and knows he’s right, and continues to throw away men to absolutely no purpose.
And he’s destroying the american Military, and he’s causing a revolution beyond our borders that will change everything.
And I’m not talking about radicalizing Islam: I’m talking about a world arising in which America has no friends, where America is despised and opposed.
And with the Republicans moving our manufacturing capabilities overseas, continues damaging our middle (consumer) class, and sneers at and denigrates our scientific community? What will we have to compete with against a hostile world?
If George Bush is not stoppped, he will destroy America. He’s well on his way.
Wrecking ball Bush trashes everything that he touches: the Republican Party in summer of 2000, our Democracy in December 2000, our Bill of Rights, 2001 – date, our Constitution, 2001 – date, World Trade Center, Afghanistan, New Orleans, Iraq and on and on
September 16th, 2007 at 12:37 pmThere were two countervailing forces restraining Iran prior to 9/11–Afghanistan in the east and Iraq in the West that we have removed/reduced from Iran’s calculus. Bush constantly waves the Al Qaida menace in our faces, but his personal vendata against Saddam combined with his handlers’ lust for oil and crony capitalism led to his distraction from our incursion into Afghanistan to punish Al Qaida and the Taliban for aiding them–which much on the international community and our population supported. Our foolish invasion of Iraq without proper planning, manning, equipping, etc., gave rise to Al Qaida in Iraq and our current nightmare. Bush-Cheney-Gates wish to dump this cancer on the next administration whoever they may be and are willing to let America’s finest pay in limb and life and future generations pay in treasure. This is dispiccable and those who support or don’t oppose it are the real non-patriots even though they wrap themselves in a thousand flags and wear Stetson’s and pointy boots to hide their Down East aristocrat Kennebunk Port roots.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:42 pmComment by pbg — September 16, 2007 @ 12:31 pm
Also the massive amount of our debt owned by China and other foreign countries which we have run up to occupy Iraq and give tax cuts to the obscenely wealthy. Our country is in a very weak place thanks to GOP greed.
September 16th, 2007 at 1:06 pm“who’s son†should be “whose sonâ€.
The possessive case of who is whose, not who’s.
Comment by ecoast — September 16, 2007 @ 11:25 am
Why do you point out such a meaningless typo that has no affect on the meaning of the article?
I think Gates is being illogical by being against such a needed bill, what do you think?
September 16th, 2007 at 1:13 pmAnything that differs from what our Great Leader wants in his war on terror will weaken our forces, support the terrorists, and ultimately undermine the security of the United States of America, which is a treasonous act and therefore punishable by death or, as McCain would have it in the case of Move-On, sufficient to call for the deportation of all whom believe or associate with such thinking. Americans, be warned that nearly 70% of you are presently at risk of treason if you do not fall in line with your President.
And all the while Bin Laden is laughing and partying somewhere in Pakistan, knowing that, from a cave, he single handedly did what even the forces of the Third Reich teamed with the Japanese could not do…destroy the western Democracies.
September 16th, 2007 at 1:44 pmWell he hasn’t destroyed us yet Quizmos, but he sure has put a dent in us.
By the way, you have great subs. Could I get a Meatball and Cheese to go?
September 16th, 2007 at 1:58 pmThe plan of this group of radicals is to destroy the US military. They don’t believe in having any government and this is just another branch of government. Their whole purpose is to break it beyond repair to show that only contractor mercenaries can do it well. As you see, w and cheney are building up blackwater and other private militaries. These militaries are not necessarily US citizens (and probably most are not) so they are not bound by the Constitution or raised in the American tradition. If we had a draft the whole nation would be feeling the pain of this war. By having so many mercenaries from elsewhere our involvement can be minimized. The mercenaries are loyal only to their paymasters.
September 16th, 2007 at 2:06 pmBy the way, you have great subs. Could I get a Meatball and Cheese to go?
Comment by BARTLEBEE aka. WORFEUS
And don’t forget the supersized bag of Cheetos and plenty of napkins for our buddy Worf..
September 16th, 2007 at 2:12 pmComment by BAN Zooey — September 16, 2007 @ 2:12 pm
Let’s see how long it takes for Mr P to get thrown outta here today…
September 16th, 2007 at 4:01 pm“the best way to give the troops more time at home is to WIN THE WAR!
See! It’s just that simple! RETURN TO SUCCESS!!!
Comment by Kryptik”
There’s a flaw in this theory. There is no way you can “win” an occupation. We are not in a war in Iraq, we are occupying Iraq and our soldiers are in the middle of Iraq’s civil war. It is un-winable. The best we can hope for is that we leave and allow Iraq to work out their problems amongst themselves. They will never do that as long as we are occupying their country.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:13 pmThe faster they are sent back, the faster they can pay their small price for Boehner.
September 17th, 2007 at 9:25 amwe’re paying a ransom, so the messianic superstar can buy a bigger shovel to make the hole he’s digging bigger!
September 17th, 2007 at 9:16 pm