Former US Defense Secretary and CIA chief Robert Gates (photo) has come down hard on American politicians who are advocating more intervention in the Middle East, saying they overestimate the ability of the United States to shape events there. Interviewed on the Charlie Rose show last Monday, Gates said, “I think the right question that has value is: what are the lessons you draw from what happened in 2003 (when the United States invaded Iraq)? And, for sure, one of the lessons is that we overestimate our ability to shape events in the Middle East. And the second is: the law of unintended consequences is always in effect. If something can go wrong, it will.”
