Defense Secretary Robert Gates – who’s served eight presidents – on “60 Minutes” tonight:
“I worked for a lot of these guys. And this is one of the most courageous calls, decisions that I think I’ve ever seen a president make. For all of the concerns that I’ve just been talking about. The uncertainty of the intelligence. The consequences of it going bad. The risk to the lives of the Americans involved. It was a very gutsy call,” Gates said.
“You could see it in his face, in that photograph. What was it like being near him in that room?” Couric asked.
“Let’s just say there wasn’t a lot of conversation. By anybody in the room,” Gates said.
While observing that it’s still too soon to tell, Gates says the death of bin Laden could be a “game changer” in the war in Afghanistan.