WSJ: Obama Leans Toward Asking Gates To Remain at Pentagon for a Year

[JudyInTheHeartland]

Obama Leans Toward Asking Gates To Remain at Pentagon for a Year
By YOCHI J. DREAZEN

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama is leaning toward asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remain in his position for at least a year, according to two Obama advisers. A senior Pentagon official said Mr. Gates would likely accept the offer if it is made.

No final decision has been made, and Obama aides said other people are also under serious consideration for the defense post, one of the most highly coveted in any new cabinet. Several prominent Democrats, including former Clinton Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and former Clinton Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, are also being considered.

The decision on retaining Mr. Gates will be the clearest indication to date of the incoming administration's thinking about Iraq and Afghanistan.

Like the president-elect, Mr. Gates supports deploying more troops to Afghanistan. But the defense secretary strongly opposes a firm timetable for withdrawing American forces from Iraq, and his appointment could mean that Mr. Obama was effectively shelving his campaign promise to remove most troops from Iraq by mid-2010.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122636621096215941.html

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Not sure who the WSJ is talking to these days, but this and the intelligence story sure sound fishy to me...

[Marrah_G]

1. Before to many heads explode, remember that Gates would be working for Obama

It would be Obama's game plan being run.