Gates: Forget Wars, Harry Reid Wanted Defense to Fund Bowel Research

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates claims Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid contacted him, while while he was in the middle of two wars, to ask if the Defense Department could fund research on irritable bowel syndrome.

In his new memoir, "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,"  released Tuesday, Gates talked about issues that the majority leader contacted him about during his tenure at the Pentagon, The Daily Caller reports. 

"With all the major issues we had to deal with, my personal contacts with Senate Majority Leader Reid were often in response to his calls about Air Force objections to construction of a windmill farm in Nevada because of the impact on their radars," Gates wrote.

"He also once contacted me to urge that Defense invest in research on irritable bowel syndrome," Gated added.

"With two ongoing wars and all our budget and other issues, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry."

Related Stories:

• Robert Gates: Obama Didn't Make Troops Believe He Supported Their Sacrifice
• Robert Gates' New Book Excoriates Obama, Pentagon, Congress