Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates :"Never get involved in a land war in Asia"

[sufrommich]

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday that it would be unwise for the United States to ever fight another war like Iraq or Afghanistan, and that the chances of carrying out a change of government in that fashion again were slim.

“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,” Mr. Gates told an assembly of Army cadets here.

That reality, he said, meant that the Army would have to reshape its budget, since potential conflicts in places like Asia or the Persian Gulf were more likely to be fought with air and sea power, rather than with conventional ground forces.

“As the prospects for another head-on clash of large mechanized land armies seem less likely, the Army will be increasingly challenged to justify the number, size, and cost of its heavy formations,” Mr. Gates warned.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/world/26gates.html?_r=1&hp

[Stuart G]

1. Gee///////////.......Didn't I hear this somewhere before????????nt.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Helluva time to read up on history, dillhole!

Time to consult historical archives is BEFORE starting a fucking war!

[SpiralHawk]

8. You're torturing me

with wit and wisdom

[NutmegYankee]

15. He wasn't around for the start.

He took over in 2006. I actually have a lot of respect for Gates. He takes baby steps, but he is moving us in the right direction. I think he takes this slow approach to ensure that he isn't just written off.

[aquart]

3. Why do you have a picture of Wally laughing?

[JHB]

14. See reference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfWDilXZQEo&feature=related

[a la izquierda]

4. Well DUH!

Any historian could have told you that, even those of use who don't study Asia.

Oh god, the stupid hurts.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Huge hawk like Gates pontificating on that subject?

How interesting.

Hypocrisy?
Change of heart?
Or carefully sown seeds for his next step after retirement this year?

[FreakinDJ]

6. We tried to tell the US Citizens this in 2003 as Bush prepared to invade

Millions of voices from the USA told Bush that it would break the US Economy just as it did the Russians.

The 1980s isn't exactly ancient history

I wish DU had a "Best of Pre-Iraq Invasion" to rub into the War Hawk's collective noses

[malmapus]

7. Maybe we'll make up for that by not going up against a Sicilian

when DEATH is on the line...

[sufrommich]

12. lol, I use that line whenever possible. nt

[nevergiveup]

9. a day late and a dollar short

[DeadEyeDyck]

10. Seems that horse left the barn some time ago

[AsahinaKimi]

11. inconceivable!

you keep using the word, I don't think it means, what you think it means!

[KharmaTrain]

13. There Goes His Future Gig With The Carlyle Group...

There's a part of me that feels for Gates...he took on a DOD that had been pillaged by Rumsfeld and Cheney and somehow had to make the turd of Iraq not smell so bad. These weren't his wars and he's had to do a lot of housecleaning. Sadly his words will never be headed as "national intere$t" will always trump sensibility and the profits of war will always prevail.

[Bigmack]

16. For why...?

is this not getting much traction in the mainstream media? (That's a rhetorical question.)

I've posted a really assaultive post on three newspaper blogs on this story ... "We told you so, neocon chickenhawks... and sheeplike followers... " sort of posts. Quoted Gens. Butler and Shoup.

I was the first poster last night, and I'm still alone on all three blogs.