Current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has agreed to stay on during the Obama administration. While the two have had their differences on certain issues, such as the Iraq war, secretary gates was quoted as saying he was "impressed" with comments made by president-elect Obama. Gates has already stated that he has no intention of being a "caretaker secretary" and listed off several challenges that Obama will face including the budget and war strategy, while also stating that he will be involved in all of these issues.
Gates has said that he does not necessarily disagree with Obama's withdrawal plan for Iraq, stating that "he [Obama] wanted to have a responsible drawdown, and he also said that he was prepared to listen to his commanders." This is frankly great news as it shows that Obama truly is open to suggestions from people that have had more experience in government. Gates has so far stressed the issue of the Iraq war, specifically in regard to the length of a soldiers duty and the implementation of stop-loss. Stop-loss refers to the involuntary extension of a soldiers tour of duty.
1 comment:
Its interesting how for all the talk of the Obama campaign about how change was coming to washington that as far as things go so far it looks more or less like a Bush third term with a bit more of the chance of continued bail outs. The Bush tax cuts will stay, the Iraqi withdrawl will continue as the Bush administration planned and will be overseen by a Bush appointee. Afghanistan looks as if it is being primed for a surge.The Secretery of State will be pro-war Hillary and the administration will be centerist Clinton dynasts. And, judging by the acomplishment of the Democratic Congress to date, (nothing), this may truly be a change that I can believe in.
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