Gates Says US Defeat Would Be a Disaster

[babylonsister]

Gates Says US Defeat Would Be a Disaster


Friday September 14, 2007 9:16 PM

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that a U.S. defeat in Iraq would be ``disastrous'' and President Bush's strategy deserves bipartisan support in Congress.

``The consequences of American failure in Iraq at this point would, I believe, be disastrous not just for Iraq but for the region, for the United States and for the world,'' Gates told a Pentagon news conference.

``No discussion of where and how we go from here can avoid this stark reality,'' he added.

more...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6922415,00.html

[Enrique]

1. he's right

it is.

[KG]

2. well, of course the same lie was told about VN

funny how after the US miltary left there, the Vietnamese stopped shooting at americans. and none showed up at our shores.

[madrchsod]

3. he should define" win"

that`s the real problem is`t it bobby boy?

[napi21]

8. He should also define defeat! Even the MSM has been pointing

out how Shrub keeps changing his definition of "WIN". If what winning means keeps changing, then so does the definition of defeat!

4 years ago, win meant establishing a Democracy in Iraq. Since we now recognize that is impossible, is THAT defeat?

[grytpype]

11. Good point!

What is defeat, and how is that any different from what we have right now?

[bigtree]

4. If they keep it going, they can always claim 'victory' is right around the corner

Americans are mostly wise to this game. To them, an exit would be a 'victory.'

[reality based]

5. That's why the little emperor's daddy didn't go on to Baghdad during the

first Gulf War. They knew this when they went in this time, they just don't care. The oil is there and their bank accounts are secure. They betray us.

[porphyrian]

6. So, he's confirming Iraq is a disaster. - n/t

[marmar]

7. Mr. Gates, that ship has sailed....

Get your tenses right. "Would be?" Try "has been."

[SoCalDem]

9. Gee whiz.. how astute of him

Too bad his buddy *²stupid³ did not listen to anyone before he undertook "Operation Empty the Treasury", back in '03..

[1932]

10. What is the consequence of success? Not that it could ever happen, but what would the lesson be for

rest of the world if the US showed that it could invade a country based on lies and turn into a profit-making center for US companies?

We would be ostracized on a level that people just don't understand, I think. The rest of the world would make our economy scream as punishement.

They would stop buying our debt and send us into a great depresssion just to restore a global balance of power and peace and security.

And terrorists would start thinking a lot bigger than flying airplanes into mid-price Manhattan commercial rental properties and wings of the pentagon that are empty because they're being renovated.

[WinkyDink]

12. And "success" = ???

[L. Coyote]

13. Sounds like an admission of a massive screw-up without a solution.

"We are in crap up to our eyeballs, so we can't leave."

He left out the part about how it is Bush's crap!

[treestar]

14. The can't define "defeat" the same way they can't define "victory"

They insist we are living in the past, where wars had clear wins and losses, which is funny when you consider how they insist this war is different because "911 changed everything."