Opinion

GATES THE GREAT

MIRACLES do happen: A Bush Cabinet officer has proven not only competent, but wise, honest, independent and courageous.

That man is Defense Secretary Robert Gates – who just may be the best SecDef this country has ever had.

If only he could stay on into the next administration, he might rival our greatest Secretary of War, Elihu Root, the crucial military reformer of the early 20th century.

Gates is just and deliberate, but he’s wonderfully tough when it’s time to make hard decisions. In his brief tenure – since Dec. 18, 2006 – he’s stood up to each of the services when they deserved it.

Even more crucially (and dangerously), he’s been willing to face down the plutocrats of the defense industry – the thugs in $3,000 suits who’ve robbed our military for decades, stealing your tax dollars.

Gates’ most-recent demonstration of patriotic guts involved firing the Air Force secretary and chief of staff.

They had it coming. The secretary was oblivious and inert. The chief of staff, Gen. Michael “Buzz” Moseley, thought that the only Air Force missions that mattered were supporting Lockheed Martin and fighting attempts to expand the use of cost-effective UAVs (a k a “drones”).

A member of the Air Force’s notorious “fighter-pilot mafia,” Moseley pushed bankrupting buys of aircraft-without-an-enemy, such as the F-22 – then refused to send that platinum-plated piece of junk to Iraq, where its defects and limitations would’ve been exposed before the buy was complete.

Meanwhile, Moseley and the dozing service secretary continued to neglect our nation’s nuclear deterrent – even after repeated embarrassments showed that mission and safety standards had eroded almost to Soviet levels.

Moseley always had an excuse for every security breach. But Gates wasn’t interested in excuses. Instead, he applied a military axiom: “The maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters.”

Gates not only faced down the Air Force’s entrenched fighter-pilot mafia, his new choice for Air Force chief of staff reflects that service’s real missions: Gen. Norton Schwartz made his bones flying transport aircraft and in special operations – two disciplines that matter.

While Moseley’s fair-haired boys drilled very expensive holes in the sky over Nevada in $330 million aircraft that never flew a combat mission, the in-the-fight Air Force of transport crews, special operators, ground controllers and ground-attack pilots were at war.

Gates fired the prince and put the pauper on the throne – then went in person to a series of Air Force bases to tell blue-suiters why he did it.

Nor does Gates “pick on” the Air Force. On the contrary, he may be the best friend the Air Force has had in decades. He just raised a stop sign in front of those willing to cut Air Force personnel to the bone to keep funding ever-more-expensive, ever-less-relevant aircraft. This SecDef wants a robust Air Force that can fight.

He holds the other services accountable, too: Questioning the cost and utility of the Future Combat System – a divisive issue within the Army itself – Gates “went Missouri,” demanding evidence of how this $200 billion package would contribute meaningfully to the range of conflicts we face now and will face in the future.

The Navy and Marine Corps have had to answer tough questions, too. Everyone gets a fair hearing, but if Gates remains unconvinced, he’ll go high-noon with the vested interests. And his decisions always favor our troops in combat.

When the generals decided not to buy vehicles designed to deflect roadside bombs – since they might not be useful in future conflicts – Gates overruled them. In the view of this SecDef, protecting our troops now is more important than fantasies about tomorrow.

That said, Gates respects his generals just as he values the privates. He just won’t tolerate substandard performers. His motto could well be “Never imperious, always curious.”

In other words, he’s the anti-Rumsfeld. As SecDef, Donald Rumsfeld surrounded himself with yes-men. Gates seeks out the best men.

Rumsfeld assumed he knew everything. Gates understands that learning never stops.

The Rumsfeld Pentagon ran a propaganda organization that amounted to a self-licking ice-cream cone. Gates disdains self-promotion.

When the going got tough, Rummy sent his underlings out to take the hits. When Gates makes tough decisions, he stands in the line of fire himself – as he did last week in front of those Air Force audiences.

While the Rumsfeld Pentagon was subservient to the defense industry, from Boeing to Blackwater (to say nothing of Halliburton and the like), Gates insists on giving our troops – and taxpayers – the best value for our defense dollars. (The contractors hope to wait him out.)

Rumsfeld was a bully. Gates is a warrior.

Few Americans will miss the Bush administration. But the men and women in uniform will miss Bob Gates. He’s the model of what a public servant should be.

Ralph Peters’ new book, “Looking for Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World,” will be published on July 4.