Plenty of people on the left are unhappy about the idea of keeping Robert Gates on as defense secretary in the Obama administration. It's fair to wonder when the president-elect will find an important job for someone who opposed the Iraq war. But Gates represents the opposite of the type of thinking that got us into Iraq. And keeping him on may be the best way for Obama to keep his pledge to leave with all deliberate speed.Gates is portrayed as a hawk because he's part of the Bush administration. But President Bush brought him on precisely because he needed a drastic change at the Pentagon from the gung-ho, cavalier approach of Donald Rumsfeld. People forget that Gates was a member of the 2006 Iraq Study Group, which endorsed negotiations with Syria and Iran and recommended steps that would end U.S. involvement.
In fact, had Gates had his way, we'd be well on our way out by now. "By the first quarter of 2008," said the report, "subject to unexpected developments in the security situation on the ground, all combat brigades not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq." That would have cut U.S. forces in half.
So Gates should not be mistaken for an unrepentant supporter of the war. And because he has Republican credentials and presided over the surge, he has unique credibility in managing our departure from Iraq.
If he says conditions allow us to leave, it will be hard for Republicans in Congress to argue. And if he weren't ready to undertake the job of getting American forces out of Iraq, it's hard to to believe Obama would keep him on--or that he would want to stay.
