Air Force must do more for war, Gates says

Pentagon chief: Getting aircraft to Iraq, Afghanistan 'like pulling teeth'

MSNBC News Services
updated 1 hour, 25 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Air Force is not doing enough to help in the Iraq and Afghanistan war effort, complaining that some military leaders are "stuck in old ways of doing business."

Gates complained in a speech at the Air University on Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been "like pulling teeth."

He indicated that the Air Force's desire to use pilots for its missions has kept the Defense Department from employing more effective and lower cost unmanned aircraft.

“In my view we can do and we should do more to meet the needs of men and women fighting in the current conflicts while their outcome may still be in doubt,â€