Change, stability at Pentagon

[unhappycamper]

Change, stability at Pentagon
By Jeff Schogol and Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Iraq improved. Afghanistan deteriorated. And the Pentagon’s top leader stayed the same, even though a Democrat will be moving into the White House.

Though the presidential election drew much of the news focus for the year, military issues both overseas and at home continued to make headlines.

Unlike years past, the news from Iraq took a more positive tone in 2008. By July, the number of U.S. casualties had dropped to just 13, the lowest monthly total since the March 2003 invasion. Experts largely credited the "surge" of U.S. combat troops a year earlier, and soldiers’ tours were cut from 15 months to 12 months as officials began to feel the security gains were solid.

But as Iraq improved, the news out of Afghanistan grew more serious. Attacks and combat deaths there increased. Marine commanders, having transformed Iraq’s once-chaotic Anbar Province, are pushing to move into Afghanistan in large numbers as NATO nations struggle to provide additional troops.

And while the Pentagon began the transition to a new administration — the first party switch during wartime in 40 years — one constant will be Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who will remain in the post. Gates, respected by members of both parties, says he felt compelled to help ease the process of changing to a new administration.


Article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59718

[MADem]

1. Funny. Everyone says that Gates was Poppy's pick, to get Junior out of that Rummy MESS.

And Gates didn't especially want the job in the first place.....

Great rundown of key events in that article.