Gates: No More Mideast Wars

Some strong words from Robert Gates: The defense secretary said Friday it would be a terrible idea for the U.S. to begin another military conflict. “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 should ‘have his head examined,’ as General MacArthur so delicately put it,” Gates told an audience of West Point cadets. Another warning: Gates said a decade of constant conflict has created a junior officer corps with exceptional leadership—but due to constraints in paying for combat troops, these recruits will be stuck in bureaucratic work, something that “terrifies” him.