Carl Levin sounding out the principled opposition to Robert Gates’ nomination.
“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with Mr. Gates,” Levin said. “I voted against him 15 years ago when he was not forthcoming in his role with Iran-Contra. And also, there were some very significant statements, including by former Secretary of State Schulz, that Mr. Gates shaped intelligence in order to support policy. We don’t need to have anybody ever again who is going to tell the president what he wants to hear instead of what the facts are, and I’m afraid that at least there are some real questions that have been raised that Mr. Gates needs to answer.”
The truth is Bob Gates lied about his knowledge of Iran-Contra and was too busypoliticizing intelligence on the capabilities of the Soviet Union to notice the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism. People like Gates got us into the mess we find ourselves today.