Gates lauds Congress and media

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates largely avoided talk of the Iraq war Friday during his commencement speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, instead advising graduates to remember that Congress and the media are “two pillars of freedom under the Constitution.”

“Both surely try our patience from time to time, but they are the surest guarantees of the liberty of the American people,” Gates said.

Gates, a former president of Texas A&M; University who replaced Donald H. Rumsfeld in December, advised that Republicans and Democrats are strong supporters of men and women in uniform. He urged the newest members of the military to be “nonpolitical.”

“As officers you will have the responsibility of communicating to those below you that the American military must be nonpolitical and recognize the obligation we owe the Congress to be honest and true in our reporting to them, especially when it involves admitting mistakes or problems,” Gates said.

He added that when such troubles are made public -- as they were with news coverage of poor conditions and inadequate treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. -- officials must respond.

“The response of senior leaders should be to find out if the allegations are true, as they were at Walter Reed, and if so, say so; and then act to remedy the problem,” said Gates, who spoke for 18 minutes. “The press is not the enemy. To treat it as such is self-defeating.”

Gates thanked the 1,028 midshipmen and women for choosing to serve their country and fellow citizens in what he called “a time of great necessity.”

Gates said the graduates were the embodiment of their class motto: liberty through sacrifice.

Members of Navy’s Class of 2007 are the school’s first in decades to apply, matriculate and be graduated during a time of war.