"Congress is all over the place," Gates says at one point. "And the

[9 "Congress is all over the place," Gates says at one point. "And the Republicans are a perfect example. I mean, you've got the budget hawks and then you've got the defense hawks within the same party. And so I think there is no consensus on a role in the world." In some ways, the first part of his tenure was easier. During the Bush years, money was never an issue. By contrast, Obama faced a harsh economic reality, and Gates tried to get in front of the issue by shrinking the Pentagon budget. But his cuts satisfied neither hawks nor doves nor the White House. This spring, when Obama announced a $400 billion reduction in defense spending, Gates got just 24 hours’ notice. Gates, who'll be succeeded by CIA chief Leon Panetta, wins bipartisan accolades for restoring morale at the Pentagon and, more important, repairing relations with Congress, which had grown distrustful of the Defense Department under Rumsfeld. Bridging two administrations, Gates gets credit for stabilizing Iraq, though the key decisions that led to success--a surge of troops and the appointment of Gen. David Petraeus to oversee the strategy--predated his arrival. Petraeus says Gates knew that his real contribution was to buy time in Washington for the strategy to succeed. " "Your battle space is Iraq. My battle space is Washington,' " Petraeus recalls Gates telling him. Gates concedes he was sometimes on the wrong side of an issue. For instance, he was gun-shy about using ground troops to kill Osama bin Laden, arguing that Obama should opt for an airstrike instead. Gates hesitated because he feared a repeat of the bungled 1980 attempt to free American hostages in Iran that killed eight U.S. servicemen. "I was very explicit with the president in one of the discussions," Gates acknowledges. "I said: 'Mr. President, I want truth in lending. Because of experience, I may be too cautious, you know.'?" Obama overruled Gates, siding with those who wanted to deploy the elite Navy SEALs, securing the biggest victory in the 10- year war on terror. Rather than a transformational figure, a more HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_032189