"...do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..."

"For the good of the Air Force, for the good of the armed services and for the good of our country, I urge you to reject convention and careerism..."
- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Maxwell AFB, April 21, 2008

"You will need to challenge conventional wisdom and call things like you see them to subordinates and superiors alike."
- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, United States Air Force Academy, March 4, 2011

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Robert Gates - Right Except When it Mattered


I'm looking forward to reading former Secretary of Defense Robert Gate's new book, "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War."  Nice title.  I hear it's full of venom and judgment, where he rightfully calls out so many of the other self serving politicians he worked with.  But what I wonder is - who was Gates really at war with?

This book title alone shows that you, Robert Gates, are a hypocrite.

As my blog quotes at the top show, I very much appreciated your words.  I do in fact think you were the best Secretary of Defense I've served under, with the exception of every other Secretary of Defense I've served under minus one.  You were so much better than all of them, except you had this one tiny, itty bitty, ever so sleight, little flaw.  As in the kind you cannot have as a public servant.  I think you're smart and I think you recognized the damage those under you were doing, and I applaud you for taking the unpopular actions you did to get my service back on the right track.  Actions that I knew would be undone, as they have been, since your departure.

That's perhaps not your fault.  That's the standard inertia in our business, as Builder knew all too well.

But there are certain things you just can't get wrong.  You just can't.  There is a popular saying that starts something like, "A bridge builder can build a hundred bridges, but...."

That saying doesn't, but might, continue with, "...but take part in violating the most basic, the absolute most basic and most fundamental and most important and most clear part of the Constitution, the section in the Fifth Amendment that says government will not take the life of an American without the due process of law..."

And then it might end with, "...well he's no longer a bridge builder, he's a traitor."

And you Robert Gates, are no longer a distinguished Secretary of Defense, instead, you are a traitor.  You made war on an American citizen without charge or trial, using military machinery.  That is constitutionally the definition of treason.  Whether you kill one American, or several, or a dozen, or hundreds, or thousands by using military machinery, either way you have made war on the United States.  You are a traitor.  And you and I both know - we both know - that you are a traitor.

Oh, but hold up.  It was for a good reason that you broke our law?  It's a gray area is it?  Yeah, Timothy McVeigh, another traitor, said the same thing.  But he wasn't part of the elite ruling class of untouchables, so he rightfully fried while other traitors write books and sample fine cheeses at parties packed with rich inferiors.

Nice job with RPA.  Nice job getting the Air Force thinking about the long game with technology, though doing nothing for pressing the importance of moral leadership.  Nice job putting those flag officers on notice.  Do you ever wonder why they knew they could get away with just waiting you out?  Ever wonder why your vision and force and leadership fell so flat?

Please don't talk about duty.  You failed in yours in the most egregious way, beyond any other failure I'm aware of in the history of the United States of America.  When it truly mattered, you showed your true colors.  You and Colin Powell should do a book signing together.

But make sure he sits to your right.  Even he didn't fail as badly as you.  Enjoy your book proceeds.

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