Robert Gates, secrétaire à la défense, prendra sa retraite très bientôt. Il considère que sa très grande expérience, appréciée à la fois des républicains et des démocrates, le rendrait probablement trop prudent...
"Gates, a white-haired veteran of generations of Washington power struggles, was the skeptic in two big internal battles ahead of his June 30 retirement: He opposed intervening in Libya, and strongly questioned intelligence behind a risky helicopter raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
Now, the 67-year-old is heading back to his beloved lakefront home in the other Washington, north of Seattle. Gates said he plans to write two books – one a memoir (to be published after 2012), and the other a partly humorous guide to transforming huge public institutions. But he vows that for now, he won’t be popping off.
“The best thing I could do when I get outta here, for at least some period of time, is keep my mouth shut,” he said.
Gates has relished confronting sacred cows and conventional wisdom: capping or scrapping failed or overly exotic weapons programs; including Pentagon brass in his push for restraint in budgeting; and traveling to Duke University to warn the elite about the dangers of regarding military service as “something for other people to do.”
Hired by President George W. Bush to save Iraq after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fell from grace, Gates presided over the surges in both Iraq and Afghanistan as the capstones to a career that had already included stints as director of the CIA and president of Texas A&M University.
As the first SecDef ever held over by a newly elected president, he became the most valuable member of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, helping smooth the handoff of Iraq and Afghanistan from Bush to a commander-in-chief with totally different experiences, instincts and priorities.
When it came to Libya, Gates made it clear that he was determined to fight and win the two wars he had inherited, without voluntarily opening new fronts. It was his biggest disagreement with Obama, for whom he has only praise.
“Once in two-and-a-half years isn’t bad,” he said with a smile."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55988.html
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