Replacing Rumsfeld, Gates Issues Warning on Iraq - New York Times

Replacing Rumsfeld, Gates Issues Warning on Iraq - New York Times: "WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 – Robert M. Gates became secretary of defense today, pledging to rely on advice from the uniformed military professionals and convey his own no-holds-barred opinions to the White House.

“You have asked for my candor and my honest counsel,” Mr. Gates told President Bush at a Pentagon ceremony. “You will get both.”

The new secretary said Iraq is at the top of his list of concerns, and that he will go there “quite soon” to confer with military leaders and hear their assessments “unvarnished and straight from the shoulder.”

“We simply cannot afford to fail in the Middle East,” Mr. Gates said. A failure in Iraq would haunt the United States “for decades to come,” he said." Read complete post here.