He was asked about Netanyahu during his visit and, according to notes I saw, responded: "I believe Netanyahu is serious, capable and interested in reaching an agreement.
Ambassador Crocker acknowledged the frustration of members of Congress and of the American people, but argued that Iraqi leaders "are serious" and "are capable of coming together and thrashing out issues in a serious and deliberate manner".
Mr. Gates was right when he warned of America's dwindling patience with allies "unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense".
The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress - and in the American body politic writ large - to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense.
"The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress, and in the American body politic writ large, to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources... to be serious and capable partners in their own defense," he said in an address to a think tank in Brussels.
"The blunt reality," Mr. Gates said, "is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress — and in the American body politic writ large — to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense".
If you're serious and capable, you can do it, too.
He spoke with apparent regret of the "dwindling appetite and patience" of Americans "to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense". But such indigestion and impatience are long overdue.
Once small victories are secured, they signal to the target audience that the movement is serious and capable, and that the effort expended in joining it will be worth the trouble.
"It's a good list of people; they are capable, serious professionals," she said of the cabinet.
