L’USAF se trouve brutalement plac\u00e9e devant une perspective cauchemardesque pour elle, apr\u00e8s cet article du Sunday Times<\/em>, effectivement publi\u00e9 hier<\/a>. L’article avance qu’une id\u00e9e d’Obama serait, dans l’hypoth\u00e8se o\u00f9 il serait \u00e9lu 44\u00e8me pr\u00e9sident des Etats-Unis, de demander \u00e0 Robert Gates de rester \u00e0 la t\u00eate du Pentagone. Il s’agirait \u00e9videmment, de la part du candidat, de montrer \u00e0 la fois son esprit d’ouverture (vers les r\u00e9publicains, dont Gates est issu) et son souci de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 nationale alors que la r\u00e9putation de Gates est de plus en plus \u00e9tablie \u00e0 Washiongton (\u00abObama’s top foreign policy and national security advisers are pressing the case for keeping Robert Gates at the Pentagon after he won widespread praise for his performance. The move would be in keeping with Obama’s desire to appoint a cabinet of all the talents.<\/em>\u00bb)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tQuelques extraits de l’article:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abRichard Danzig, an adviser to Obama on national security and a former navy secretary, said: My personal position is Gates is a very good secretary of defence and would be an even better one in an Obama administration.<\/em>[] Ivo Daalder of the Brookings Institution in Washington, a foreign policy adviser to Obama, said: Robert Gates is one of the best defence secretaries we have had in a long time and it makes a lot of sense to keep him.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t()<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbGates recently said Obama and John McCain, his Republican rival, were likely to take a sensible approach to Iraq because the next president would suffer the greatest consequences if we do get the endgame wrong. Retaining Gates would give Obama cover for adjusting his policy if necessary, while reassuring Republicans that withdrawing from Iraq would not imperil national security.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbGates showed he was comfortable working with Democrats when he appointed John Hamre, a former senior official under Bill Clinton, to serve as chairman of the influential Defence Policy Board last year. He also appointed William Perry, a former defence secretary who is advising Obama, to the board.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbGates has said he finds it inconceivable that he would stay on but Obama’s advisers believe he would respond to the call. This is a man who believes in service, Daalder said.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbJames Carafano, a defence expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, said Obama would be making a smart move if he asked Gates to carry on. He has clearly adopted a mainstream course on national security that would be acceptable to either McCain or Obama.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tCes avis divers en faveur de la formule de le reconduire au Pentagone montre combien Gates est devenu, \u00e0 Washington, une personnalit\u00e9 consensuelle. Il est vrai que, dans l’administration Bush, il tranche par son calme, sa mesure et son s\u00e9rieux. Succ\u00e9dant \u00e0 Rumsfeld et \u00e0 sa gestion controvers\u00e9e, il a b\u00e9n\u00e9fici\u00e9 du contraste qu’il a install\u00e9. Il semble manifeste que ce choix aurait le soutien d’une grande partie de l’establishment<\/em> de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 nationale de Washington.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tL’article envisage cette nomination essentiellement, si pas exclusivement du point de vue de la situation en Irak, qui reste la question br\u00fblante par excellence. Mais il a d’autres implications, qui sont \u00e0 terme plus importantes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t La premi\u00e8re, la plus imm\u00e9diate, est qu’il rencontrerait le vu de la direction militaire, qui s’est exprim\u00e9 au moins \u00e0 deux<\/a> reprises<\/a>, par la voix du pr\u00e9sident du JCS, l’amiral Mullen, pour presser le pouvoir politique pour une transition rapide et ferme entre les deux administrations. (\u00abSpecifically, Mullen said he hopes that the change in politically appointed leaders will unfold at a wartime pace, rather than at a peacetime one. I think it’s important for us to get as many principals in positions as rapidly as possible in a time of war, he said.<\/em>\u00bb) Le choix de Gates comblerait \u00e0 cet \u00e9gard les vux des militaires, d’autant qu’un homme comme Mullen est parfaitement \u00e0 l’aise avec Gates.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n