Proving that there are sometimes second acts in America, Gates, 67, had an encore retirement yesterday, with considerably more fanfare than accompanied his initial departure from Washington in 1993, when he left the intelligence agency. This goodbye came after Gates spent 4 ½ years helping to manage protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At the ceremony under brilliant blue skies outside the Pentagon, Gates bid an emotional farewell to the military. And Obama, who had kept him on as Pentagon chief after the end of the Bush administration, hailed him as “a humble American patriot, a man of common sense and decency; quite simply, one of our nation’s finest public servants.’’
It was Gates, he said, who pressed to get more heavily armored vehicles and hunter-killer drones to the war front and made it his mission to ensure that the department served the troops in the field “as well as they serve us.’’
In a surprise break from the printed program, Obama presented Gates with the medal - the highest civilian honor he can bestow.
“I can think of no better way to express the gratitude of the nation to Bob Gates than with a very special recognition,’’ Obama said as he asked Gates to step forward to receive the award.
“I’m deeply honored and moved by your presentation of this award,’’ Gates responded.
Gates is being succeeded by CIA Director Leon Panetta. Later yesterday, the Senate voted 94-0 to confirm General David Petraeus to take Panetta’s place.
Gates’s retirement has been a long time coming. When he took the job in December 2006, he carried a clock with him that counted down his days in D.C.
But when asked by Obama to stay on in Jan. 2009, he agreed, knowing that there was still much work to be done as troops began pulling out of Iraq and pouring into Afghanistan.
