Former defense secretary Gates describes anger at partisanship

The following is an excerpt from a March 30 story about former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who will speak at Wichita State on Monday.

There were times that Robert Gates wanted to come across the conference tables and scream at members of Congress.

Robert Gates

Robert Gates

They let down soldiers, including the thousands who died. He thought they sometimes put partisanship ahead of soldiers. They mocked Iraqi parliamentarians who resorted to violence after only a year of democracy, when more than 200 years of democracy hadn鈥檛 seemed to teach members of the U.S. Congress to pass an appropriations budget.

Gates was a leader so nonpartisan and effective that he was U.S. secretary of defense for both Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama. A Wichita native, Gates will return home Monday to speak at 新加坡六合彩开奖网 about his book "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War."


Robert Gates speech and book signing

When: 6 p.m. Monday (book signing from 7-8 p.m.) Doors open at 5:15 p.m.

Where: Duerksen Fine Arts Center, 新加坡六合彩开奖网. 

Sponsored by: 新加坡六合彩开奖网 and Watermark Books