SecDef Gates: Premise For Iraq War Was Not Valid. Did He Ever Tell Bush That?

Posted by | September 2, 2010 10:42 | Filed under: Top Stories


Speaking to reporters in Baghdad, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says the Iraq war’s outcome “will always be clouded by how it began.”

“The problem with this war for, I think, many Americans is that the premise on which we justified going to war proved not to be valid, that is Saddam having weapons of mass destruction,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters as he hopped from one stripped-down U.S. military base to another greeting American troops.

“So when you start from that standpoint, then figuring out in retrospect how you deal with the war — even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States — it will always be clouded by how it began.”

That is a stunning statement coming from someone who served, in the same capacity, the president who started the war. I wonder if he ever said that to President Bush.  Also noteworthy is Gates’ comment that Iraqis may not be ready for our departure.

“I cannot say that the (security forces) are 100 percent ready — they are not. But this should not be an excuse to extend the indignity of being an occupied country.”

In fact, they may never be ready, so we just have to pick a time and leave.

Click here for reuse options!
Copyright 2010 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

Leave a Reply