Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Wendy Wang
Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace conducts an on the record media "roundtable."

The new defense secretary, in a clear distinction from his predecessor changed the formal atmosphere of the Pentagon press room in favor of a format that reminded one reporter of an "anchor team for the evening news of the Pentagon channel." Gone is the press room podium, replaced with a redwood desk and plush chairs with the blue curtains behind him drawn back. A map of the world is superimposed on the wall behind the desk where the emblem of the Pentagon once hung. The media chairs are divided into two sections, theatre style. Press asked him at the end of the briefing if he was trying to draw a clear distinction between himself and his predecessor. Gates says he is just trying to find a format that suits him and says nothing about the past.

So the press Q & A began with a recommendation that the new Sec. Def could change public perception, especially towards government. The growing distrust could be attributed to a number of discrepancies. The latest discrepancy comes from a Congressional Budget Office's report that places the number of troops in the surge and the cost of such a surge much higher than what was announced by the president. CBO, cost and troops are both double, as it does not talk about support troops that will be deployed. Gates says the CBO dramatically overstated the cost and personnel needed in this new surge. DOD cost estimate is based on the end of 2006 to the end of fiscal year 2007, while CBO projected their estimate towards the end of fiscal year 2009.

Asked about the opposition in Congress to the recent troops surge, Gates says that he likes to remind people that a president has to take a long view that may put him in opposition of public view and that of Congress.

On Iran, Gates says there are no plans for war. Currently the US is countering what the Iranians are doing in Iraq towards the American troops, and also trying to get them to stop nuclear enrichment through diplomatic processes. The recent activities in Iraq to counter Iranian support of insurgencies through technology or actual weaponry gave rise to speculation that the military efforts are towards Iran. Gates says that is not the case. Asked if Iran support for infighting in Iraq is being sanctioned by the Iranian government, Gates had no answer. He did say that the presence of a second carrier is to show our allies that the Persian Gulf area is of vital importance to the US; that we are prepared to defend our interests and the interests of our allies. Gates however, did not have much to offer in terms of Iranian involvement, and possibly Iraqi military involvement, in the infiltration of an American military camp in Karbala that left several American soldiers dead. He reiterated that an investigation is under way.

The new secretary was asked about his views on the situation in Iraq and whether he felt it could be characterized as a civil war. Gates says that civil war would imply two distinct factions where there are four wars taking place in Iraq. Therefore the term "civil war" is over simplifying the situation.