OK, that’s enough of that. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates is setting a world record in the 1600m back pedal race today. He needs to work off all those calories after jamming his foot in his mouth.
From CBC:
Gates held a news conference a day after his interview with the Los Angeles Times caused an uproar among NATO countries fighting in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials said they held the news conference earlier in the day to meet European news deadlines.
Gates is quoted as saying NATO forces in southern Afghanistan do not know how to properly combat a guerrilla insurgency, and that could be contributing to rising violence in the country.
Speaking Thursday at the Pentagon, Gates said his criticism was aimed at the entire alliance, including the United States.
Where is your brain Gates? There have been 3926 US soldiers killed in Iraq (at last count) and Canada has suffered 78 casualties in Afghanistan to say nothing of the casualties that were suffered by other countries. It is extremely disappointing to hear Gates shooting his mouth off about what a bad job they are doing when you read numbers like that. Each one of those fallen men and women were someone’s kid, someone’s parent, a brother, a sister. It is a sign of disrespect that he would deride their efforts. Whether you agree with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is immaterial to this point. If there is a lack of training on the part of the soldiers you don’t air it in a public forum such as the media. You fix it. These fallen soldiers deserve better than that. More importantly, so do the living.
When asked if he made any phone calls to soothe potential ruffled feathers, Gates said he had “reached out to” Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay.
“They had suffered a loss the day before and I wanted to make sure they understood we have respect for their contribution and how much of an effect they are having,” he said.
Too late Bob. Since seppuku is not in vogue at the moment, I would ask that you provide a written apology.
[tags]Robert Gates, Canadian Forces, US Military[/tags]