Robert Gates: “I certainly stand by my statement this morning that I agreed with General Pace that we are not winning, but we are not…”

I think it doesn't make strategic sense.

My staff and I have learned that it was nearly impossible to get accurate information and answers to questions such as, 'How much money did you spend?' and, 'How many people do you have?'

I soon learned that the only way I could get significant new or additional equipment to commanders in the field in weeks or months, not years, was to take control of the problem myself through special task forces and ad hoc processes.

Putin feels that he has a destiny to recreate the Russian Empire.