Gates "Independence" a Ploy by Rove and Bush?

Robert Gates might be the new Defense Secretary, but for how long? During his confirmation hearing today he insisted that he would be his own man. As he insisted, he didn't come to Washington to become a "bump on a log." If he believes that -- and given his eye-opening statement that we are losing in Iraq, he seemed to be doing just that -- he won't last very long. This administration has made in clear that they have no intention of changing the direction of their disastrous Middle East policies. Already, it seemed that the President was putting the lid on Gates mini rebellion:

Snow said that, as far as he knows, the president has not backed away from his recent statement that the U.S. is actually "winning" in Iraq. He also suggested that Gates, elsewhere in his testimony, seemed to say that maybe we weren't losing and we weren't winning. And he charged that the press was being too negative about all this: "What I think is demoralizing is a constant effort to try to portray this as a losing mission," he said.

Then there was Gates admission that the civil war in Iraq could spread to other countries in the region. That certainly is not a view this White House would like getting circulation.

Or could all this tolerated frankness be a devious strategy to get Gates confirmed. The Bush gang could be setting up the Secretary nominee for a fall. After getting Gates confirmed he would then be marginalized. Just as they did with Colin Powell. We certainly shouldn't put it past Karl Rove to use such a ploy. Either way it does not bode well for American foreign policy. We can expect more of the same. Regardless of whether we have a new Secretary of Defense.