"In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ’have his head examined,’ as Gen. (Douglas) MacArthur so delicately put it," Gates said in a speech to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
As Gates prepares to leave office later this year, his speech could be read both as a judgment on the difficult missions the military has taken on over the past decade — and a prediction that future conflicts would look radically different."
*****************
NATO 3.0
What NATO does will impact future American defense policy. Learn how NATO is transforming to meet 21st Century threats.