Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates is intent on finally leaving government this year. This will be an inestimable loss despite the fact that no one is irreplaceable. Gates is that special kind of human being who is both especially able and capable of speaking truth to power in a way that is accepted. On top of all that, Gates is also able to speak truth to the great, unwashed, irresponsible rabble that is American democracy.
Gates has been telling Congress and the military two things:
1. The military must streamline its budget and make sacrifices just like everyone else. Certain massive projects are in support of our last wars, not our next ones.
2. "We shrink from our global security responsibilities at our peril," Gates told the House Armed Services Committee. "Retrenchment brought about by short-sighted cuts could well lead to costlier and more tragic consequences later -- indeed as they always have in the past."
In an address to West Point Cadets he said, “In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General MacArthur so delicately put it.”
Gates is no strutting ego like MacArthur was but he gives us the opportunity to remember a little history. This is what Gates referred to in his MacArthur remark:
· At the end of World War II, Korea remained split like so many other nations at that time. The Republic of Korea [the southern half of the split country] was created on Liberation Day and MacArthur delivered a speech promising to defend Korea from communist invasion. "I shall defend it as I would California," he said in 1945.
· Contradicting that statement several years later, MacArthur took a new position more in line with the thinking of Washington. The White House was stating that Korea was outside of the U.S. Defense Perimeter and was not an area of national interest. "Anyone who commits the American Army in the Asian mainland should have his head examined," he said in 1949.
· Just over five months later, the Korean north invaded the south and Douglas MacArthur arrived with American troops to mount a defense of the Pusan Perimeter. The United Nations came into the conflict on the side of the south with MacArthur as "Supreme Commander."
· With early victories, MacArthur saw an opportunity to unify Korea under the United Nations flag and with authorization from the General Assembly, he jumped well over the original objective of the 38th parallel.
· The Chinese threatened intervention on the side of the communists. MacArthur insisted they were bluffing but on October 25, 1950, the People's Liberation Army of China attacked the U.N. forces and drove them into retreat. President Harry S. Truman was nervous but MacArthur insisted the UN and America could and should defeat the Chinese – perhaps even nuke them as we had the Japanese.
· Truman blinked and there came a political battle between an American General and a President that over shadowed the strategic interests of America, the UN and the region. In 1951 Truman fired MacArthur and fought the war to a cease fire. The belligerents remain at war to this moment and the aggressors represent the most dangerous threat to peace in the world today. Pay me now or pay me later.
Gates urges Cadets to learn from history and he seems to be encouraging them to become scholars like General Petraeus rather than just warriors – which is traditionally far more typical of Generals than some folks want to accept.
Gates encouraged future Army officers to look outside the armed forces for experiences that will make them better soldiers and leaders. "Such opportunities might include further study at grad school, teaching at this or another-first rate university, spending time at a think tank, being a congressional fellow." And he encouraged them to "become a master of other languages and cultures."
Gates is a thoughtful man who has returned broad credibility to the Pentagon in a very short time – an impressive result after the damage done by the likes of Robert McNamara [the man’s middle name was “Strange”] and Donald Rumsfeld. Foreign policy is crucial and should be formulated by experts, not politicians and certainly not popular opinion.
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