"Personally, my favorite is his apt description of the overactive eagerness to go to war that has defined the Obama years:..."

This statement is indicative of Secretary Gates' interior political conflict. The eagerness for war during the Obama years has been nothing compared to that expressed so vividly by Bush/Cheney in the course of their years -- which was productive of not just one, but TWO discretionary wars.

I can't help wonder is Gates was whispering this bit of wisdom about war as a last resort into Mr. Cheney's ear in the weeks leading up to the first administration of "shock and awe" to the people of Iraq.

Somehow, I don't think so.