Bob Gates, America's Secretary Of War

60 Minutes: Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates Talks About Iraq, Afghanistan And His Job

(CBS)  In the mountains west of Kabul, Gates acknowledged to local leaders that when U.S. bombs kill civilians, they give the Taliban a propaganda bonanza. But the U.S. kills civilians unintentionally - the Taliban commit atrocities deliberately.

The Taliban use brutality, like amputations and beheadings, to intimidate and expand their power. And they often hold public executions.

Just last month, a Taliban firing squad executed a man and a woman in front of a crowd because the couple had tried to elope - a death penalty offense to the Taliban because the woman was engaged to someone else

In the office on his plane, Couric asked what keeps him up at night.

"I suspect everybody would say the thing that frightens them the most is a group like al Qaeda getting hold of a weapon of mass destruction. And I think that really is a serious worry," Gates said.

"Like a nuclear weapon in Pakistan?" Couric asked.

"Not necessarily from Pakistan. North Korea's another worry," he replied.

During our trip we also stopped in Saudi Arabia. Gates' motorcade took us to see U.S. troops who train the royal family's bodyguards.

Because Gates is the only Bush holdover in the Obama cabinet, he has a unique view of both presidents. But he's extremely reluctant to share his insights.

"You have said that President Obama is more analytical in your view than President Bush," Couric remarked.

"That's something I wished I hadn't said," Gates said.

Asked why, Gates told Couric, "I really have been very disciplined about not drawing those kinds of comparisons."

"What three words would you use to describe President Bush?" Couric asked.

"Committed, questioning, eager to make a decision and move on," Gates said.

The words he used to describe President Obama were "deliberative, decisive and calm."

[DEFarrington]

I think there is more to Bob Gates than meets the eye. I'd like to hear all of the fairy tales Bob Gates has to tell us. Clearly what the public wants, or expects is completely irrelevant in the eyes of Bob Gates, and I'm sure, others as well. Keeping us in Iraq, or Afghanistan is not a road I would have had the new President take us down. It would appear that the forces keeping US forces in the Middle East, and Afghanistan are bigger than either the President, or Bob Gates. The unremunerative path we're taking will only serve to ruin our countries economy, and destroy the American way of life.

[nesbitt141]

Excellent story by Ms. Couric. Mr. Secretary tells us no fairy tale and no lies. The troops are not coming out Sooner or Later. I believe this is going to be a Minute!!! Thanks--

[notblue]

It is never a "lost cause" and must not be "mission impossible" when fighting the greatest evil and threat to all modern, xcvilized, free societies namely RADICAL ISLAM and the barbaric savages that adhere to the extremist ideology.

[babooph]

Like Obama,he has been given "mission impossible",seems like the best we have for a lost cause.

[slagboom]

It's laughable for Gates to mock Washington when he has been an D.C. insider all of his professional life and has a ton of scandals hanging around his neck from his CIA days! When one is the number two at the CIA there is nothing good about them. Anyone at that level is intrinsically evil and has been responsible for some of the most gruesome and brutal acts on the planet! There was a good reason why Bush chose him as Sec Def!

[navydog11]

slagboom

Jokes about the egos in DC are laughable? C'mon! Gates is right.....I think I detect a DC-sized ego that doesn't like looking in the mirror.

[debbieqd]

It is amazing how few of the commenters here have gotten the message about why the U.S. needs to remain in Afghanistan. Go online and watch the atom bomb exploding over Heroshima. That could be you in Kansas or North Carolina. The job of a President and a Secretary of Defense is to make sure that doesn't happen -- to you.

It's inconvenient. It's expensive. It costs precious lives. It's not fast. So, one has to ask you, "searingtruth," what good would your economy, fair wages, and constitution do for you if the mushroom cloud lands on your city? You don't think this could "happen to YOU?" Like, YOU won't get cancer? What part of how close the Taliban and al-Qaeda are to Pakistan's nuclear weapons don't you understand?

[kds562]

A Sec Def who doesn't like Wash and politics and cares about the troops - what a refreshing idea (maybe that's why Obama asked him to stay) They know our men and women are flesh and blood, not chess pieces. Cheney/Rummy/Bush lied to get Saddam and sacrificed thousands of lives. Now the Obama admin has to clean up their mess in Afgan.

[brendett]

Dear Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense
If the United States had not stuck there nose in the middle east conflict we would not be fighting this war in the first place.
Back in the day we trained Osama bin Laden too fight his war, now he turn on the United States, way too go United States. Who will be next that we will training in the military and they turn on us once again too use it against the United States? darn are we so smart now? Is it another Vietnam war when will we ever learn about other countries you cant not trust them to do what's right there way is not our way.

Now Osama bin Laden is our number one enemy of the United States! WHO'S NEXT THAT WE TRUST FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY? UNTIED STATES GOVERNMENT IS REALLY A BUNCH OF STUPID PEOPLE they don't listen to we the people they just sweep us under a rug and forget us!

SO LONG AS YOU PAY YOUR FEDERAL INCOME TAX TO GOVERNMENT SO THEY CAN BAILOUT EVERYBODY AND FIGHT A WAR OVER OIL !

UNTIED STATES GOVERNMENT WORRIED ABOUT THE UNITED STATES SAFETY MY BEHIND, OUR CIA AND THE GOVERNMENT KNEW THAT 9-11 WAS GOING TO HAPPEN SO THAT PRESIDENT BUSH COULD DECLARED WAR ON TERRORIST!
IF THEY DID KNOW THEN WE NEED TO DISMANTLE THE CIA, RIGHT ALONG WITH THE UNTIED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE IN MY BOOK!!!!! SOMEONE WAS SLEEPING ON THE JOB BACK ON 9-11.

[cbsnewscomme]

Why I, an American became a Taliban.....

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/sec-defense-robert-gates-leftover-scab-iran-contra-scandal

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/afghanistan-pakistan-taliban-seek-north-vietnam-military-advisors

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/taliban-squads-reported-kashmir-support-india-troops

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/taliban-are-gods-great-people-voiceforpeace

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/electricity-ends-terror-threat-and-excessive-military-spending

[nextgenman09]

Gates is just OBie's lap dog. He's certainly no Rumsfeld; he doesn't have either the intelligence or the vision. He'll succeed in turning Afghanistan into another failure for America - so the Liberals will have another "victory" for their policy of isolation and appeasement.
Posted by neo267-2009

You are right. Gates is no rumsfeld. Gates cares about the troopes. rumsfeld was part of the bush/chaney criminal enterprise.
Posted by woodjd42 at 2:27 AM : May 18, 2009
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And Rumsfeld was no Secretary of Defense. A complete bungler who lost two wars.