Case You Were Worried...

I've culled a few timely comments by our best and brightest, just in case you were feeling a bit antsy about this whole troop surge idea. To wit, our Defense Secretary Robert Gates:

"I think most of us, in our minds, are thinking of it as a matter of months..." ("Bush War Plan Draws Fire on Capitol Hill," AP, 1/11/07). Well, it's a relief at least to know that most of them are thinking in their minds, as opposed to using other parts of their bodies. Let's hope they're in their right minds.

Defense Secretary Gates further said Thursday in his talk before the House Armed Services Committee, "I would confess I'm no expert on Iraq." He also 'fessed up the to the same group that he was "no expert on military matters." Hmmm...so not on Iraq, and not on the military. Perhaps South Florida condo association groundskeeping bylaws, or maybe the arcane rules of what constitutes exotic invasive plant species. But surely, it sounds like he's not been slotted correctly.

In a society which heralds the leveling influence, at least Gates is a hero for the vast middling mediocrity.

But since he should be the one to understand these matters, why is he the Secretary of Defense?