HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_032189.jpg
2.68 MB
Extraction Summary
7
People
7
Organizations
3
Locations
3
Events
3
Relationships
3
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Congressional exhibit / article excerpt (likely from a magazine or biography)
File Size:
2.68 MB
Summary
This document appears to be page 19 of a larger report or article, marked with a House Oversight Bates stamp. The text profiles Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during the transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration. It details his struggles with budget cuts, his relationship with Congress and General Petraeus, and specifically highlights his hesitation regarding the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden due to his memories of the failed 1980 Iran hostage rescue. There is no direct mention of Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell on this specific page.
People (7)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Gates | Secretary of Defense |
Discussing his tenure, budget cuts, strategy in Iraq, and hesitation regarding the Bin Laden raid.
|
| Barack Obama | U.S. President |
Interacted with Gates regarding budget cuts and the decision to kill Bin Laden.
|
| George W. Bush | Former U.S. President |
Referenced regarding the first part of Gates' tenure ('The Bush years').
|
| Leon Panetta | CIA Chief / Incoming Secretary of Defense |
Named as the successor to Gates.
|
| Donald Rumsfeld | Former Secretary of Defense |
Referenced regarding distrustful relations with Congress prior to Gates.
|
| David Petraeus | General |
Overseer of strategy in Iraq; recalls conversations with Gates.
|
| Osama bin Laden | Terrorist Leader |
Target of the military operation discussed.
|
Organizations (7)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Congress | ||
| Republican Party | ||
| Pentagon | ||
| Defense Department | ||
| White House | ||
| CIA | ||
| Navy SEALs |
Timeline (3 events)
May 2011 (implied)
Operation to kill Osama bin Laden using Navy SEALs.
Pakistan (implied)
Spring 2011
Locations (3)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
Relationships (3)
Gates served as Sec Def under Obama; Obama overruled Gates on the Bin Laden raid method.
Petraeus oversaw Iraq strategy while Gates managed Washington politics.
Panetta succeeded Gates as Secretary of Defense.
Key Quotes (3)
"Congress is all over the place... And the Republicans are a perfect example."Source
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Quote #1
"Your battle space is Iraq. My battle space is Washington"Source
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Quote #2
"Mr. President, I want truth in lending. Because of experience, I may be too cautious, you know."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_032189.jpg
Quote #3
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (2,107 characters)
19
"Congress is all over the place," Gates says at one point. "And the Republicans are a perfect example. I mean, you've got the budget hawks and then you've got the defense hawks within the same party. And so I think there is no consensus on a role in the world."
In some ways, the first part of his tenure was easier. During the Bush years, money was never an issue. By contrast, Obama faced a harsh economic reality, and Gates tried to get in front of the issue by shrinking the Pentagon budget. But his cuts satisfied neither hawks nor doves nor the White House. This spring, when Obama announced a $400 billion reduction in defense spending, Gates got just 24 hours' notice. Gates, who'll be succeeded by CIA chief Leon Panetta, wins bipartisan accolades for restoring morale at the Pentagon and, more important, repairing relations with Congress, which had grown distrustful of the Defense Department under Rumsfeld.
Bridging two administrations, Gates gets credit for stabilizing Iraq, though the key decisions that led to success--a surge of troops and the appointment of Gen. David Petraeus to oversee the strategy--predated his arrival. Petraeus says Gates knew that his real contribution was to buy time in Washington for the strategy to succeed. " 'Your battle space is Iraq. My battle space is Washington,' " Petraeus recalls Gates telling him. Gates concedes he was sometimes on the wrong side of an issue. For instance, he was gun-shy about using ground troops to kill Osama bin Laden, arguing that Obama should opt for an airstrike instead. Gates hesitated because he feared a repeat of the bungled 1980 attempt to free American hostages in Iran that killed eight U.S. servicemen. "I was very explicit with the president in one of the discussions," Gates acknowledges. "I said: 'Mr. President, I want truth in lending. Because of experience, I may be too cautious, you know.'?" Obama overruled Gates, siding with those who wanted to deploy the elite Navy SEALs, securing the biggest victory in the 10-year war on terror. Rather than a transformational figure, a more
In some ways, the first part of his tenure was easier. During the Bush years, money was never an issue. By contrast, Obama faced a harsh economic reality, and Gates tried to get in front of the issue by shrinking the Pentagon budget. But his cuts satisfied neither hawks nor doves nor the White House. This spring, when Obama announced a $400 billion reduction in defense spending, Gates got just 24 hours' notice. Gates, who'll be succeeded by CIA chief Leon Panetta, wins bipartisan accolades for restoring morale at the Pentagon and, more important, repairing relations with Congress, which had grown distrustful of the Defense Department under Rumsfeld.
Bridging two administrations, Gates gets credit for stabilizing Iraq, though the key decisions that led to success--a surge of troops and the appointment of Gen. David Petraeus to oversee the strategy--predated his arrival. Petraeus says Gates knew that his real contribution was to buy time in Washington for the strategy to succeed. " 'Your battle space is Iraq. My battle space is Washington,' " Petraeus recalls Gates telling him. Gates concedes he was sometimes on the wrong side of an issue. For instance, he was gun-shy about using ground troops to kill Osama bin Laden, arguing that Obama should opt for an airstrike instead. Gates hesitated because he feared a repeat of the bungled 1980 attempt to free American hostages in Iran that killed eight U.S. servicemen. "I was very explicit with the president in one of the discussions," Gates acknowledges. "I said: 'Mr. President, I want truth in lending. Because of experience, I may be too cautious, you know.'?" Obama overruled Gates, siding with those who wanted to deploy the elite Navy SEALs, securing the biggest victory in the 10-year war on terror. Rather than a transformational figure, a more
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_032189
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