Getting sense knocked into you

The Secretary of Defense has some interesting views, as he wraps up his tenure this year. Granted, he came into office after the damage had been done in Iraq; it's just a shame somebody didn't have this epiphany sooner:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday that it would be unwise for the United States to ever fight another war like Iraq or Afghanistan, and that the chances of carrying out a change of government in that fashion again were slim. “In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General MacArthur so delicately put it,” Mr. Gates told an assembly of Army cadets here.

Now, the best way to avoid having to 'send a big American land army' into these places is to
a) stop garrisoning so many troops overseas in the first place, and
b) stop involving ourselves in every Hatfield-McCoy dispute the world over

Since the politicos are already playing the "who's going to be on the ballot in 2012" game, I'll just put in an early plug for Fred's agenda...