Secretary of Defense Robert Gates yesterday became the latest member of the Bush cabinet to say something that can easily be proven wrong to support the White House.

As reported in the Washington Post, Gates said that a delay in getting the funds requested by the president for Iraq and Afghanistan would soon force him to start laying off employees and ceasing operations at bases.

Gates should know better, and should know that someone would quickly call him out on this.

A 140-year old law, the Food and Forage Act (41 U.S.C. § 11), which was put in place during the Civil War, allows the Pentagon to spend what it needs even when no appropriation has been enacted. According to law firm Holland and Knight , which published a brief note about this back in 2001:

Under the Anti-Deficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341), a contracting officer is prohibited from making or authorizing an expenditure or obligation exceeding an appropriation. An exception, however, is found at 41 U.S.C. § 11, The Food and Forage Act, which permits a DoD contracting officer to incur an obligation in excess of an appropriation for food, fuel, forage and related items necessary to meet current year needs.

Gates' phony prediction of dire consequences if Congress did not provide the money requested by the White House soon was nothing more than a PR ploy. It will accomplish nothing.

What's really disappointing about this is that Gates up to now has mostly tried to stay above he fray. He has acted as if his personal credibility, which his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, squandered, was vitally important to his and the military's overall success. He even seemed to break with the White House on a number of issues and took harder stances than the administration wanted him to take.

This statement shows that Gates has decided that his credibility is not as important as it used to be.