Gates not enthusiastic about al-Maliki

Source: Associated Press

BERLIN - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday offered a less-than-enthusiastic endorsement of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, days after expressing impatience with the Iraqi leader during his third visit to Iraq since becoming the Pentagon chief.

At a news conference here, Gates was asked about the viability of the new U.S. approach to establishing security in Baghdad and his assessment of al-Maliki's ability to achieve a political reconciliation among the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

"This government (of al-Maliki's) is the one we have to work with," Gates said, noting that al-Maliki is the elected leader of the Iraqi government.

But Gates also said that if he did not believe al-Maliki could be successful he would not have recently urged Egypt, Jordan and other governments in the region to support al-Maliki.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/gates_iraq

sounds like Gates is more into the reality based community than most in the *administration.

But, he isn't the problem. He has put all the bills the US wants the oil law and de-Baathification to parliment.

But, the Sadrists, SCIRI, Kurds, and others have no intention of letting the Baathists back. If the US wanted a dictator in Iraq that could pass all the reconciliation they wanted that didn't need parliment it should have installed one.

There is very little Maliki can do.

breakthrough? Now that he's not 100% on their side, they're not happy with him. Go figure...

<snip>Level of involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal
Because of his senior status in the CIA, Gates was close to many figures who played significant roles in the Iran-Contra Affair and was in a position to have known of their activities. In 1984, as deputy director of CIA, Gates advocated that the U.S. initiate a bombing campaign against Nicaragua and that the U.S. do everything in its power short of direct military invasion of the country to remove the democratically-elected Sandinista government <8>. The evidence developed by Independent Counsel did not warrant indictment of Gates for his Iran-Contra activities or his responses to official inquiries.

Gates was an early subject of Independent Counsel's investigation, but the investigation of Gates intensified in the spring of 1991 as part of a larger inquiry into the Iran/contra activities of CIA officials. This investigation received an additional impetus in May 1991, when President George H.W. Bush nominated Gates to be Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). The chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) requested, in a letter to the Independent Counsel on May 15, 1991, any information that would “significantly bear on the fitness” of Gates for the CIA post.

Gates consistently testified that he first heard on October 1, 1986, from Charles E. Allen, the national intelligence officer who was closest to the Iran initiative, that proceeds from the Iran arms sales may have been diverted to support the Contras. Other evidence proves, however, that Gates received a report on the diversion during the summer of 1986 from DDI Richard Kerr.<9> The issue was whether the Independent Counsel could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gates was deliberately not telling the truth when he later claimed not to have remembered any reference to the diversion before meeting with Allen in October.

Grand Jury secrecy rules hampered Independent Counsel's response. Nevertheless, in order to answer questions about Gates' prior testimony, Independent Counsel accelerated his investigation of Gates in the summer of 1991. This investigation was substantially completed by September 3, 1991, at which time Independent Counsel determined that Gates' Iran-Contra activities and testimony did not warrant prosecution.

Independent Counsel made this decision subject to developments that could have warranted reopening his inquiry, including testimony by Clair E. George, the CIA's former deputy director for operations. At the time Independent Counsel reached this decision, the possibility remained that George could have provided information warranting reconsideration of Gates's status in the investigation. George refused to cooperate with Independent Counsel and was indicted on September 19, 1991. George subpoenaed Gates to testify as a defense witness at George's first trial in the summer of 1992, but Gates was never called.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gates

I know, I know, shouldn't cite wiki but I've had no sleep and I don't feel well and I don't feel like trolling.