In the post, I said: The US makes a statement which is outrageous and draws flack from all over, then they try to retract. What does this tell us?

(1) The US meant it so they want to distance themselves from their allies and undermine NATO. Question is why?

Initially, one could say Gates is merely nitpicking over a war policy that the he knows is a result of his predecessor's ineptitude and over Bush's impatience over the Iran issue.

But much as this might sound spooky, the truth could very well be (and I do believe there's a reasonable truth in this) that Gates is putting pressure on NATO allies PUBLICLY in the hope of deflecting the issue stemming from US preparations (political and military) for a potentially bigger war that Bush has in mind: IRAN.