Outside the Gates of Getting Even

Valuable and balanced accounting by Juan Cole of the vast number of serious foreign policy mistakes new memoirist Bob Gates has made since the 1970s.   But he does introduce them by hailing many of Gates' others actions and positions.   From the "bad" list:

#5. Gates was among the architects of the US policy of giving billions to far right Muslim jihadis (Mujahideen) such as Gulbadin Hikmatyar in northern Pakistan to fight, first the left wing Afghan government in 1979 and then the Soviet Union. The current Afghanistan War that Gates accuses President Obama of being lukewarm about is a direct consequence of the Reagan administration’s decision to fund a private army of jihadis against secular, pro-worker forces.