Gates, Petraeus joke about attacking Libya

2011-03-08 06:57:37 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, on Monday joked about launching an attack on Libya.

ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper published the video that shows the two top U.S. officials shaking hands. "Welcome back, sir," Petraeus told Gates as he arrived at Kabul International Airport on a surprise visit. They did not know that press microphones were still on.

"Flying a little bigger plane than normal? You gonna launch some attacks on Libya or something?" Petreaus joked to Gates. "Yeah, exactly," Gates responded, as both men laugh.

There was no official response to the joke, but commentators on ABC News' website were not amused. "Well, if anyone ever wondered why we can't seem to win a war anymore, these two fools just answered that question. Pathetic. Fire them both!" one user wrote. Another user suspected it was on purpose: "Probably intentional small chat to scare Gadhafi into leaving Libya," user Kottaras wrote.

In July 2010, Rolling Stone magazine published a history-making piece that prompted President Barack Obama's dismissal of U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the position now held by Petreaus.

The explosive magazine piece revealed the strategic discrepancies and political infighting that underlies the American military mission in Afghanistan. It depicted Gen. McChrystal as an outsider who didn't get along with many top officials in the Obama administration.

"How'd I get screwed into going to this dinner?" McChrystal was cited as saying by Rolling Stone magazine. He made the comments in April while in Paris, where he was going to meet a French minister. "The dinner comes with the position, sir," his chief of staff, Col. Charlie Flynn, replied. In response, McChrystal gives him the middle finger and says: "Hey Charlie? Does this come with the position?"

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-03-08

LoL

That is what they always have in mind. Jokes.