Robert M. Gates Quotes
Democracy and freedom … are based on democratic institutions, the rule of law, and a civil society. None of these Arab states have any of these to any significant degree.
Robert M. Gates, U. S. Secretary of Defense (Republican), Director of the CIA, Assessment of the likelihood that the Arab Spring would produce democracy and freedom in the Middle East, Interview, PBS The Charlie Rose Show, May 16, 2012
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
His views are a mix of modernism and fundamentalism. He favors democracy and elections but also favored the Taliban destroying the great ancient Buddha statues when he was called an idol worshipper for urging the preservation of art.
The country had just returned to civilian rule after years of murder and government atrocities under a military junta.
Describing the concept of the House of Representatives:
The executive order gave the power to the Secretary of the Treasury to block and freeze assets of anyone or any organization that was assisting the insurgents and abetting the internecine violence in Iraq. Typical of many George W. Bush efforts, the idea was a good one and indeed necessary, but the way it was implemented was very poor. Bush was always trying to seize more power for the Executive Branch and wanted as little judicial review as possible. Under the Executive Order if any organization were accused of assisting the insurgents and a lawyer defended them from having their assets blocked, then the lawyer could also have his assets blocked as he was “assisting” the offending organization. The purpose was to prevent undemocratic elements from thwarting democracy in Iraq, but the method implemented was itself quite undemocratic—a contradiction that Bush found himself in very often. Allowing for judicial approval before seizure would have helped a great deal.
This quotation of a very popular Muslim cleric illustrates the wide range of political views of Islamic leaders and authorities. Whereas most shun democracy as placing public opinion over the word of God, there are many like al-Qaradawi who have a modernist interpretation of Islam.
He warned that if there were quick elections, the Islamists being the only organized civil and political organizations were bound to win and then it would be very hard to create civic democratic institutions which would not only be competition for the Islamists but would likely be secular—their worst fear. He generally turned out to be right as Lewis was the Western World’s greatest Islamic Historian,
formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate
Robert Michael Gates is an American intelligence analyst, and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by President George W. Bush and was retained for service by President Barack Obama. Gates began his career serving as an officer in the United States Air Force but was quickly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Gates served for 26 years in the CIA and the National Security Council, and was Director of Central Intelligence under President George H. W. Bush. After leaving the CIA, Gates became president of Texas A&M University and was a member of several corporate boards. Gates served as a member of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan commission co-chaired by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, that studied the lessons of the Iraq War.
