Ouch - Robert Gates
By Bob Woodward writing at
The Washington Post:
Robert Gates, former defense secretary, offers harsh critique of Obama�s leadership in �Duty�
In a new memoir, former defense secretary Robert Gates unleashes harsh judgments about President Obama�s leadership and his commitment to the Afghanistan war, writing that by early 2010 he had concluded the president �doesn�t believe in his own strategy, and doesn�t consider the war to be his. For him, it�s all about getting out.�
Leveling one of the more serious charges that a defense secretary could make against a commander in chief sending forces into combat, Gates asserts that Obama had more than doubts about the course he had charted in Afghanistan. The president was �skeptical if not outright convinced it would fail,� Gates writes in �Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.�
Another book to check out. A bit more:
Gates writes about Obama with an ambivalence that he does not resolve, praising him as �a man of personal integrity� even as he faults his leadership. Though the book simmers with disappointment in Obama, it reflects outright contempt for Vice President Biden and many of Obama�s top aides.
Biden is accused of �poisoning the well� against the military leadership. Thomas Donilon, initially Obama�s deputy national security adviser, and then-Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, the White House coordinator for the wars, are described as regularly engaged in �aggressive, suspicious, and sometimes condescending and insulting questioning of our military leaders.�
Woodward's bias is evident in the article but it looks like a really interesting book. Looks like another addition to my reading pile...
Posted by DaveH at January 7, 2014 4:16 PM