Is Secretary of Defense Gates Out Of The Iraq Policy-Making Loop?

President George Bush wants $50 billion more for the Iraq war and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reportedly did not even know about it.

This suggests some possibilities:

(1) Policy is being made by Bush and a very small group of people. And the link above also notes that the military is NOT solidly backing the Bush administration on Iraq anymore — because they fear the military could eventually be made scapegoats for Bush’s decisions. This is NOT the first time this theory has surfaced. It has occasionally popped up in written pieces or on some of the talk heads discuss-wink-and-nod Washington insiders talk shows on television.

(2) Gates is perhaps not totally trusted because he was a firm backer of the Iraq Study Group which Bush essentially brushed aside.

(3) Gates is perhaps not totally in the loop because he is actually considered more of a bigwig linked to Bush 41 than to Bush 43 and some key backers of the first President George Bush are not fans of the style, policies or policy making process of the current Bush administration.