Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, appeared on Face The Nation this week. He tried to spin the fiasco in Iraq. His answers nonetheless are very lame. Read the entire transcript:
SCHIEFFER: Are you worried about the strain on the military troops there, what Colin Powell said just the other day, that we're basically maxed out right now, the American military. You've got problems in Afghanistan. I understand the situation in Pakistan grows worse. What do you feel about that?
Mr. GATES: Obviously I worry about strain on the force. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Joint Chiefs, we all worry about the strain on the force. We all know that these 15-month tours have been very difficult on our soldiers. We know that the longer tours for the Marines have been very difficult for them. But the generals will tell you, these young men and women are amazingly resilient and determined, and I think that Admiral Mullen has said just this week that this--that there's a spring in their step because they know that they're being successful. So, yes, they're under
strain, but they're determined, and, frankly, the decision to go back to 12-month deployments, the increase in the size of the Army and the Marine Corps, there are a number of measures in effect to begin to relieve that strain.
Enough troops in Afghanistan? It's a lie:
SCHIEFFER: Mr. Secretary, do you have enough troops available to do what is going to need to be done in Afghanistan? Because we hear the Taliban grows stronger by the day. Aren't you going to have to reduce those levels in Iraq in order to get troops to Afghanistan?
Mr. GATES: I think we have sufficient forces in Afghanistan for this fighting season in 2008. We've deployed 3500 additional Marines there. The French have committed to send a battalion, which will allow us to send additional forces to the southern part of the country. I think that there is a requirement to have more forces in the longer term, and, frankly, I'm confident that we will have lower force levels in Iraq in 2009 that will enable us to be more helpful in Afghanistan.
SCHIEFFER: Do you want more help from NATO? Is NATO doing what it needs to be doing?
Mr. GATES: I always want more help from NATO.
SCHIEFFER: And do you have any idea that you're going to get it?
Mr. GATES: Well, I think that several countries stepped up to the plate at the Bucharest summit, the French foremost among them. But there are a number of countries that are increasing their commitment. And I think, really, an important element of the Bucharest summit was that, when NATO took over this mission in Afghanistan two years ago Riga, they really didn't know, I think, in many respects what they were getting into, that this was going to be a tough fight and it was going to last awhile. What's amazing is, knowing what they know now, every single NATO head of
government signed a commitment that NATO--that Afghanistan was NATO's most important operation and we were determined to win there.
Go to Links below which contradict what the Secretary is claiming:
- Greatest Threat to America: An Overstretched Military
- Study: U.S. troop Morale up in Iraq, those in Afghanistan Depressed
- Intelligence Chief: Taliban Making Gains in Afghanistan
- Do We Have a Government at the Steering Wheel?
- UN Survey: Afghan Opium High in 2008
- Study: Afghanistan Could Fail as a State
- Cease-fire in Iraq Unravels as Death Toll Mounts
- Poll: 64% Say Iraq War "Not Worth It"
- Millions of Iraqis Lack Water, Healthcare: Red Cross
- Water Makes US Troops in Iraq Sick
- Newspaper Exposes Shocking War Profiteering in Iraq
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