【英语国际】美国前防长盖茨回忆录揭10大“内幕” Top 10 Revelations From Robert Gates's Memoir

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is releasing his memoir, 'Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,' a 600-page book that offers a stark, insider's view of Washington, the Pentagon, Congress and America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. (You can read an exclusive WSJ excerpt.) Here's a look at some of the book's most riveting revelations:

1. Contempt for Congress

Mr. Gates expresses open disdain for Congress and the way lawmakers treated him when he testified at hearings. 'I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and prone to put self (and re-election) before country.' Mr. Gates said he fantasized about storming out of hearings and quitting. 'There is no son of a bitch in the world who can talk to me like that,' he writes of his fantasy.

2. Contempt for Vice President Biden

Mr. Gates expresses particular dissatisfaction with Vice President Joe Biden. He describes Mr. Biden as a 'man of integrity' who 'has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.' Specifically, Mr. Gates said he opposed Mr. Biden's proposed limited strategy in Afghanistan to focus on counter-terrorism: 'Whac-A-Mole hits on Taliban leaders weren't a long term strategy,' he writes.

3. Suspicion of White House Control

Mr. Gates described the White House and its national security team as too controlling and says that he found himself at odds with Mr. Obama's inner circle. At one meeting in the Oval Office in 2011, Mr. Gates said he considered resigning because of the White House micromanagement and strategy. 'I never confronted Obama directly over what I (as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-CIA Director Leon Panetta and others) saw as his determination that the White House tightly control every aspect of national security policy and even operations,' Mr. Gates writes. 'His White House was by far the most centralized and controlling in national security of any I had seen since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger ruled the roost' in the 1970s.

4. Friction with the National Security Staff

In particular, Mr. Gates said he was incensed by the National Security Staff and their controlling nature. 'Much of my conflicts with the Obama administration during the first two years weren't over policy initiatives from the White House but rather the NSS's micromanagement and operational meddling,' he writes. 'For an NSS staff member to call a four-star combatant commander or field commander would have been unthinkable when I worked at the White House -- and probably cause for dismissal. It became routine under Obama.'

5. White House vs. Pentagon

'The controlling nature of the Obama White House, and its determination to take credit for every good thing that happened while giving none to the career folks in the trenches who had actually done the work, offended Secretary Clinton as much as it did me,' Mr Gates writes. In one meeting, Mr. Gates says that he challenged Mr. Biden and Thomas Donilon, then Mr. Obama's deputy national security adviser, when they tried to pass orders to him on behalf of the president. 'The last time I checked, neither of you are in the chain of command,' Mr. Gates says he told the two men. Mr. Gates said he expected to deal directly with the president on such orders.

6. Mr. Gates as Peacemaker

Mr. Gates writes that 'presidents confronted with tough policy problems abroad have too often been too quick to reach for a gun. Our foreign policy has become too militarized, the use of force too easy for presidents.' For too many people, he writes, 'war has become a kind of videogame or action movie: bloodless, painless and odorless.'

7. The War in Iraq

On Iraq, Mr. Gates writes that he hoped to 'stabilize the country so that when U.S. forces departed, the war wouldn't be viewed as a strategic defeat for the U.S. or a failure with global consequences... Fortunately, I believe my minimalist goals were achieved in Iraq.' The book is coming out as al Qaeda forces have seized control of key Iraqi cities and the Iraqi government is struggling to uproot the militants.

8. The War in Afghanistan

Mr. Gates writes that Mr. Obama had early doubts about his decision in late 2009 to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. 'I never doubted Obama's support for the troops, only his support for the mission, ' he writes. Mr. Gates says that Mr. Obama was taken aback by a 2009 request from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, then commander of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, for a major military surge. 'I think Obama and his advisers were incensed that the Department of Defense -- specifically uniformed military -- had taken control of the policy process from them and threatened to run away with it.'

9. Obama's Domestic Politics

Mr. Gates says that domestic politics factored into 'virtually every major national security problem' the Obama White House faced. At one point, Mr. Gates writes, he witnessed a conversation between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton in which the president 'conceded vaguely' that his opposition to the 2007 military surge in Iraq was a political calculation. Mr. Gates called the exchange 'remarkable.'

10. Hatred for D.C.

Mr. Gates writes that his reputation for having an even temper often masked his outrage and contempt. 'I did not enjoy being secretary of defense,' he writes.

Associated Press这张存档照片显示，美国总统奥巴马坐在美国国务卿希拉里•克林顿（左）和美国国防部长罗伯特•盖茨中间，他在2011年5月白宫内阁会议开始前微笑。
美国前国防部长罗伯特·盖茨(Robert Gates)的回忆录《责任：一个战时国防部长的回忆录》(Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War)即将上市。这部600页的书从内部人士的视角讲述了对华盛顿、五角大楼、国会和美国在阿富汗和伊拉克战争的尖锐看法。以下列出了该书揭露的一些最吸引人的“内幕”：

1. 不把国会放在眼里

盖茨公开表达了对国会的不屑，以及他在听证会上作证时，议员们是如何对待他的。“我认为大部分国会议员都粗野，没有能力履行宪法赋予他们的基本责任（比如适时拨款）、事无巨细一手包揽、狭隘、虚伪、自我中心、神经过敏、往往把自己（和连任）放在国家之前。盖茨说，他曾幻想从听证会上夺门而出，撂挑子走人。他这样描写自己的幻想：“世界上没有哪个狗娘养的能那样对我说话”。

2. 不把副总统拜登放在眼里

盖茨表达了对副总统拜登(Joe Biden)的格外不满。他形容拜登是一个“正直的人”，但“过去40年却在几乎所有重大的外交政策和国家安全问题上犯了错”。尤其值得一提的是，盖茨说，他反对拜登提出的在阿富汗实施有限行动、以便专注于反恐的战略。他写道：“像玩打地鼠游戏一样打击塔利班(Taliban)领导人可不能说是一种长期战略”。

3. 对白宫的控制持怀疑态度

盖茨称白宫及其国家安全团队控制过度，并且说他发现自己与奥巴马的核心集团不和。在2011年白宫椭圆办公室召开的一个会议上，盖茨说，由于白宫大事小事都要管以及它的战略，他曾考虑辞职。盖茨写道：“我（以及国务卿希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)、时任美国中央情报局局长的帕内塔(Leon Panetta)等人）认为奥巴马决意让白宫严格控制国家安全政策甚至行动的每个方面，但我从未就此事与奥巴马直接冲撞。”“就我所知，他主政期间的白宫绝对是上世纪70年代尼克松(Richard Nixon)和基辛格(Henry Kissinger)当家以来，在国家安全方面权力最集中、控制欲最强的一届政府。”

4. 与国家安全参谋部的摩擦

尤其值得一提的是，盖茨说，他对国家安全参谋部(National Security Staff)及其喜欢控制的本性大为恼火。他写道：“头两年我与奥巴马政府的冲突主要并不是因为白宫做出的政策提议，而是因为国家安全参谋部的人大事小事都要管以及他们干预行动。”“我在白宫工作的时候，如果国家安全参谋部的人打电话给四星作战司令或战地指挥官，将是无法想象的事——可能会导致被辞退。而在奥巴马主政期间，这是常有的事。”

5. 白宫对阵五角大楼

盖茨写道，奥巴马白宫喜欢掌控一切，总想把做成每件好事的功劳揽到自己头上，丝毫不念及真正做事的那些身处一线的人员，这一点令国务卿希拉里和我都很生气。盖茨说，他在一次会议上质疑了拜登和时任奥巴马副国家安全顾问的多尼隆(Thomas Donilon)，这两人当时试图以总统的名义向他发号施令。盖茨说，他告诉二人，我上次核对信息时，你们两人都不在指挥系统之列。盖茨说，他希望能就这类命令直接与总统打交道。

6. 盖茨扮演和事佬

盖茨写道，面临海外政策难题时，历任总统常常都过快地诉诸武力。对于总统来说，我们的对外政策已经变得过于军事化，过于轻易地使用武力。他写道，对于太多人而言，战争已经成了视频游戏或动作片：不会流血、没有痛苦，也不会发出恶臭。

7. 伊拉克战争

在伊拉克问题上，盖茨写道，他希望能稳定这个国家，以便在美军撤离后，这场战争不会被认为是美国的一场战略失败，或是产生了全球后果的失败之举……幸运的是，我认为自己对于伊拉克的最低目标实现了。这本书出版之际，基地组织(al Qaeda)的力量已经控制了伊拉克多个重要城市，伊拉克政府也难以根除武装分子。

8. 阿富汗战争

盖茨写道，奥巴马早期曾质疑过他2009年底向阿富汗增派3万美军的决定。他写道，我从未怀疑过奥巴马对军队的支持，只是怀疑他对这项任务的支持。盖茨说，2009年，时任美国驻阿富汗最高军事指挥官的麦克里斯特尔(Stanley McChrystal)提出的大规模增兵要求令奥巴马大吃一惊。他写道，我认为奥巴马和他的顾问被激怒了，他们认为美国国防部（特别是军方）从他们手中夺取了政策制定的控制权，并可能不受约束。

9. 奥巴马的国内政治

盖茨说，国内政治几乎是奥巴马白宫面临所有重大国家安全问题时都要考量的因素。他写道，他曾经亲身见证奥巴马和希拉里之间的一场谈话，奥巴马含糊地承认他反对2007年增兵伊拉克是出于政治考虑。盖茨说这场谈话不同寻常。

10. 厌憎华盛顿

盖茨写道，他性情平和的名声常常掩盖了他的愤怒和鄙视之情。他说，我担任国防部长并非乐在其中。