Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
December 30, 2007
Pg. B4
By Georgie Anne Geyer
Who would have guessed, way back in 1986, that I would meet for the first time and under the oddest possible circumstances our new secretary of defense, Robert Gates, or that I would now be telling Time magazine it made a big mistake?
It is feisty Bob Gates, the smart-as-a-whip and utterly rational replacement for Donald Rumsfeld, who is my Person of the Year for 2007.
I remember our first meeting well. I was writing my biography of Fidel Castro, having been a specialist in Latin America during my first few years as a foreign correspondent, and I was trying to locate one of the few Cuban intelligence agents to defect to the United States. (Both intelligence and military officers in Cuba had shown surprisingly little propensity to flee, apparently still loyal to "the revolution.") His name was Florentino Aspillaga, and he had been top dog in Havana intelligence.
Various sources here told me only Mr. Gates, then head of the CIA, was high enough to get me to the Cuban, and I worked ceaselessly for that to happen--not a simple undertaking, for obvious reasons.
Finally the interview was arranged through Mr. Gates' official public information man at the agency. I eagerly anticipated all the information on our Cuban defector that Mr. Gates would provide for me.
The morning arrived. I traveled across the Potomac to agency headquarters in McLean, Va., and soon was waiting outside Mr. Gates' door. It opened and there stood the director, his hand outstretched in greeting. He has a nice smile, I remember thinking, one you wouldn't try to take advantage of.
But it wasn't until we sat down at the table that I suddenly had the uncomfortable feeling he didn't really have the faintest idea about who, or what, or where, Senor Aspillaga was. He asumed this was a general "back-grounder," of the kind even secretive CIA directors give to lucky journalists occasionally.
I pulled myself together, and at the end of the pleasant meeting, followed by lunch, I dared to mention the Aspillaga name. He shook his head in confusion and said he didn't know much personally about him. That was that.
To make my humiliation worse, it turned out that the way to the Cuban was through a close friend of mine at the State Department. With amazing alacrity, just like calling home, she arranged the interview--a great success, since she told me that, among other things, the Castro government was trying to steal my manuscript.
I am now old enough to reveal for the first time my embarrassment, but at least the interview with Mr. Gates gave me a firsthand look at the man who filled such a crucial post. I liked what I saw then, and even more appreciate what I see now.
In fact, Mr. Gates may go down in history as the man who may succeed in getting us out of Iraq with some dignity, the man whose quiet but authoritative and intelligent style may carry the nation to a future more attuned to the great days of our past.
Most Americans realize by now that these last few years, so filled with fanatical war policies toward the world, have reflected badly on us; but now that we're deep into pre-emptive wars, autocratic politics and unilateral defense, how do we get out?
I contend that Mr. Gates has already started geting us out, and with some success, given the challenge. This is a level-headed man totally unlike George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. He works quietly behind the scenes, exercising his authority in ways not always obvious. When you read about American troops leaving Iraq, it's not about withdrawing suddenly and precipitously, but about 40,000 troops home by July--if the situation remains stable, and if...
Iran? Notice that it is virtually off the table in terms of an American attack. Mr. Gates was reported recently as saying: "I think especially now that the National Intelligence Estimate has come out on Iran that says they've frozen their nuclear development program...it is increasingly unlikely that there will be military action taken that you might call preemptive action."
Israel? Amazingly, Mr. Gates actually put the United States on record as formally criticizing the Israeli government, in the wake of the Annapolis meeting, for its recent announcement of the planned building of 800 new houses in Arab East Jerusalem. This gesture of independence from Israeli policy was unheard of during nearly seven years of George W. Bush.
China? There, too, Mr. Gates takes a tough position but on the same wavelength as our traditional Eastern Establishment. One hopes that is what we are returning to and what Mr. Gates is easing us back to: traditional American foreign policy.
This is a man who understands civilian power. He is a man who complains we are spending nearly $500 billion on defense, but only $36 billion on the State Department to win friends and defeat enemies. He is a man born in Wichita, Kan., thus incorporating the common sense of the Midwest he springs from--and he does not socialize ostentatiously with the old Bush White House crowd.
Oh, one other thing: I suspect he still gives nice lunches.
Georgie Anne Geyer is a nationally syndicated columnist.
December 30, 2007
Pg. B4
By Georgie Anne Geyer
Who would have guessed, way back in 1986, that I would meet for the first time and under the oddest possible circumstances our new secretary of defense, Robert Gates, or that I would now be telling Time magazine it made a big mistake?
It is feisty Bob Gates, the smart-as-a-whip and utterly rational replacement for Donald Rumsfeld, who is my Person of the Year for 2007.
I remember our first meeting well. I was writing my biography of Fidel Castro, having been a specialist in Latin America during my first few years as a foreign correspondent, and I was trying to locate one of the few Cuban intelligence agents to defect to the United States. (Both intelligence and military officers in Cuba had shown surprisingly little propensity to flee, apparently still loyal to "the revolution.") His name was Florentino Aspillaga, and he had been top dog in Havana intelligence.
Various sources here told me only Mr. Gates, then head of the CIA, was high enough to get me to the Cuban, and I worked ceaselessly for that to happen--not a simple undertaking, for obvious reasons.
Finally the interview was arranged through Mr. Gates' official public information man at the agency. I eagerly anticipated all the information on our Cuban defector that Mr. Gates would provide for me.
The morning arrived. I traveled across the Potomac to agency headquarters in McLean, Va., and soon was waiting outside Mr. Gates' door. It opened and there stood the director, his hand outstretched in greeting. He has a nice smile, I remember thinking, one you wouldn't try to take advantage of.
But it wasn't until we sat down at the table that I suddenly had the uncomfortable feeling he didn't really have the faintest idea about who, or what, or where, Senor Aspillaga was. He asumed this was a general "back-grounder," of the kind even secretive CIA directors give to lucky journalists occasionally.
I pulled myself together, and at the end of the pleasant meeting, followed by lunch, I dared to mention the Aspillaga name. He shook his head in confusion and said he didn't know much personally about him. That was that.
To make my humiliation worse, it turned out that the way to the Cuban was through a close friend of mine at the State Department. With amazing alacrity, just like calling home, she arranged the interview--a great success, since she told me that, among other things, the Castro government was trying to steal my manuscript.
I am now old enough to reveal for the first time my embarrassment, but at least the interview with Mr. Gates gave me a firsthand look at the man who filled such a crucial post. I liked what I saw then, and even more appreciate what I see now.
In fact, Mr. Gates may go down in history as the man who may succeed in getting us out of Iraq with some dignity, the man whose quiet but authoritative and intelligent style may carry the nation to a future more attuned to the great days of our past.
Most Americans realize by now that these last few years, so filled with fanatical war policies toward the world, have reflected badly on us; but now that we're deep into pre-emptive wars, autocratic politics and unilateral defense, how do we get out?
I contend that Mr. Gates has already started geting us out, and with some success, given the challenge. This is a level-headed man totally unlike George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. He works quietly behind the scenes, exercising his authority in ways not always obvious. When you read about American troops leaving Iraq, it's not about withdrawing suddenly and precipitously, but about 40,000 troops home by July--if the situation remains stable, and if...
Iran? Notice that it is virtually off the table in terms of an American attack. Mr. Gates was reported recently as saying: "I think especially now that the National Intelligence Estimate has come out on Iran that says they've frozen their nuclear development program...it is increasingly unlikely that there will be military action taken that you might call preemptive action."
Israel? Amazingly, Mr. Gates actually put the United States on record as formally criticizing the Israeli government, in the wake of the Annapolis meeting, for its recent announcement of the planned building of 800 new houses in Arab East Jerusalem. This gesture of independence from Israeli policy was unheard of during nearly seven years of George W. Bush.
China? There, too, Mr. Gates takes a tough position but on the same wavelength as our traditional Eastern Establishment. One hopes that is what we are returning to and what Mr. Gates is easing us back to: traditional American foreign policy.
This is a man who understands civilian power. He is a man who complains we are spending nearly $500 billion on defense, but only $36 billion on the State Department to win friends and defeat enemies. He is a man born in Wichita, Kan., thus incorporating the common sense of the Midwest he springs from--and he does not socialize ostentatiously with the old Bush White House crowd.
Oh, one other thing: I suspect he still gives nice lunches.
Georgie Anne Geyer is a nationally syndicated columnist.