Bob Gates tells Obama's Ukraine critics to tone it down
While Republicans continue to indict President Obama's handling of the crisis in Ukraine as weak, indecisive, or otherwise incompetent, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged the president's critics on Sunday to hold their tongues at least until the crisis abates.
"In the middle of a major international crisis, that some of the criticism, domestic criticism of the president ought to be toned down, while he's trying to handle this crisis," said Gates, who led the Pentagon under Mr. Obama and his Republican predecessor, former President George W. Bush, during an interview on "Fox News Sunday."
Gates said it is unlikely that the president would have been able to prevent Russia's military incursion into Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, either by moving more assertively to counteract Russia's influence in other global flash points or by increasing defense spending.
"My own view is, after all, Putin invaded Georgia when George W. Bush was president. Nobody ever accused George W. Bush of being weak or unwilling to use military force, so I think Putin is very opportunistic in these arenas," Gates explained. "I think that...even if we had launched attacks in Syria, even if we weren't cutting our defense budget, I think Putin saw an opportunity here in Crimea, and he has seized it."
The former defense secretary also predicted that Crimea, a province of Ukraine strategically situated on the Black Sea, would permanently slip into Russia's orbit as a result of the crisis.
Gates has defended Mr. Obama from critics of his foreign policy in the past, but if the comments from other Republicans on Sunday are any indication, his plea to leave politics at the water's edge will likely go unheeded. ...
