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Robert Gates

The Obama Visit to China - What the U.S. Press Missed

Elizabeth Lynch | Posted 11.23.2009 | World

Read More: Chen Bingde, Robert Gates, Jiang Tianyong, China Emmission Targets, Climate Change, Obama China Visit, Xu Zhiyong, U.S. China Military Communication, U.S.-China Joint Statement, u.s. - China Conflict in International Waters, Michael Mullen, Public Interest Lawyers, Human Rights in China, World News
Elizabeth Lynch

Obama's visit to China was certainly not overly exciting but it was far from the failure that the U.S. press has made it out to be. It also does not signify the U.S.' decline as some alarmist media outlets have claimed.

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Afghan Air War Sees More Civilian Casualties

Politics Daily | David Wood | Posted 11.20.2009 | World

Read More: Stanley McChrystal, Robert Gates, Afghanistan, Afghanistan Surge, Afghan War, Afghanistan War, Airstrikes, World News

SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- American strike fighters and bombers are pounding insurgents in Afghanistan with increasing fury, despite a standing orde...

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Fort Hood Slayings Prompt Pentagon Investigation

AP | ANNE GEARAN and PAULINE JELINEK | Posted 11.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Pentagon Investigation Fort Hood, Fort Hood Shooting, Fort Hood, Fort Hood Review, Robert Gates Fort Hood, Robert Gates, Pentagon Review Fort Hood, Fort Hood Investigation, Politics News

WASHINGTON — Worried that the Army may have missed red flags about the alleged shooter in the Fort Hood massacre, the Pentagon probably will ope...

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Robert Gates Bars Release Of Torture Photos

Mother Jones | Nick Baumann | Posted 11.14.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, Freedom of Information Act, Joe Lieberman, Foia, Torture Photos, Robert Gates, Abu Ghraib, Politics News

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has used powers granted to him by a controversial new law to block the court-ordered release of numerous photos of deta...

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Gates: If I Knew Who Leaked, 'That Would Probably Be A Career Ender'

The New York Times | Elisabeth Bumiller | Posted 11.12.2009 | Politics

Read More: Department of Defense Leaks, Afghanistan Leaks, Defense Leaks, Gates Afghanistan Leaks, President Obama, Gates Defense Leaks, Robert Gates, Obama Leaks, Department of Defence, Politics News

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is normally a mild-mannered man, at least in public, but he unleashed a torrent on his plane on Thursday morning abo...

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Official: Obama Does Not Plan To Accept Afghan War Options, Wants Handover Details

AP | BEN FELLER and ANNE GEARAN | Posted 11.12.2009 | World

Read More: Pentagon, White House, Mcchrystal, Karzai, Department of Defense, Robert Gates, Afghanistan, Troop Levels, Exit Strategy, Timeline, Afghanistan Strategy, Mike Mullen, Obama, Jim Jones, Afghanistan War, World News

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing ...

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Obama Looking For The "American Bridge" Out Of Afghanistan

Huffington Post | Nicholas Sabloff | Posted 11.11.2009 | World

Read More: Robert Gates, Afghanistan, Us Troops Afghanistan, Barack Obama, US Troops, World News

While President Obama continues to mull over his options for adding more U.S. troops to the mission in Afghanistan, he is also pressing for an increas...

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CBS News: Obama Has Decided To Send Almost 40,000 Troops To Afghanistan

CBS News | Font Size Print E | Posted 11.09.2009 | World

Read More: Pentagon, Dod, Afghanistan War, Combat Brigades, Department of Defense, Afghanistan, Troop Levels, Kabul, Support Troops, Obama, Hamid Karzai, Pashtun, Afghan War, Mike Mullen, Mcchrystal, Nato, White House, Un, Mullen, Robert Gates, Stanley McChrystal, World News

President Obama has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president will send a lot more tro...

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McClatchy: Obama Leaning Toward 34,000 More Troops For Afghanistan

McClatchy | Jonathan S. Landay | Posted 11.07.2009 | World

Read More: Pentagon, Afghan Election, Department of Defense, Troops, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Troop Levels, Kabul, Obama, Withdrawal, Dod, Mike Mullen, Mcchrystal, Nato, Soldiers, Military, Surge, Waziristan, Troop Level, Afghanistan Decision, Un, Robert Gates, Afghan Decision, Stanley McChrystal, World News

President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to send more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year, but he may not announce it unti...

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What Obama Is Up Against

Russ Baker | Posted 11.04.2009 | Politics

Read More: John F. Kennedy, Central Intelligence Agency, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Military Industrial Complex, Harry Truman, President Obama, George W. Bush, Obama, Bob Woodward, Bush Administration Torture, Robert Gates, George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon, National Security, Gerald Ford, Nancy Pelosi, Congressional Oversight, Fdr, Hamid Karzai, Bill Clinton, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Bush Administration, Dwight Eisenhower, Cia, Military Spending, Stanley McChrystal, Jimmy Carter, Prescott Bush, Allen Dulles, Lyndon Johnson, Iraq, Torture, Politics News
Russ Baker

We Americans harbor a quaint belief that a new president takes charge of a government that eagerly awaits his next command. But that's not how things work at the top, especially where "national security" is concerned.

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What to Expect from President Obama's Visit to China

Elizabeth Lynch | Posted 11.05.2009 | World

Read More: China-U.S. Military Ties, U.S. Foreign Policy Toward China, Obama November Visit to China, Hu Jintao, Beijing, China Censorship, People's Liberation Army, China Human Rights, Barack Obama, Climate Change, China Rule of Law, Bilateral Agreement Between China and the U.S. On Climate Change, Robert Gates, Xu Zhiyong, China Currency Manipulation, Xu Caihou, Peking University, World News
Elizabeth Lynch

While the White House has yet to release President Obama's schedule, expect President Obama and President Hu Jintao to discuss military ties, global economic health, climate change and human rights.

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President Obama: Afghanistan Needs More Than a Military Solution

Patricia DeGennaro | Posted 10.29.2009 | World

Read More: Obama Afghanistan, Department of Defense, Anthony Zinni Obama, Anthony Zinni, War in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama, Afghan War, Hillary Clinton Secretary of State, Mcchrystal Afgahn Strategy, Department of State, Civil-Military Relations, Robert Gates, John Abizaid, Stanley McChrystal, Congressional Oversight, Afghan Civilians, Aghanistan, Afghanis, World News
Patricia DeGennaro

The news media has an annoying tendency to focus on the symptoms, not the disease.

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What Now, Icarus? Is Western Combat Aviation Falling Out of the Sky?

Winslow T. Wheeler | Posted 10.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Jet, Defense Budget, Lockheed, Robert Gates, Joint Strike Fighter, Joint Estimating Team, Pierre M. Sprey, Winslow T. Wheeler, F-35, Politics News
Winslow T. Wheeler

The future of Western combat aviation today rests largely on one airplane: The Pentagon's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

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Afghanistan: A History of Failed Press Coverage

Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould | Posted 10.28.2009 | Media

Read More: Le Nouvel Observateur, Zbigniew Brzezinski, ABC Nightline, Robert Gates, Columbia Jounalism Review, Janet Wilson, New York Post, American Press Coverage of Afghanistan, Soviet Invasion in 1979, Roger Fisher, Samira Goetschel, Media News
Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould

For almost 30 years, American press coverage of Afghanistan has been simplistic, misleading, unexamining, accepting and echoing government propaganda, and just plain wrong. There

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US Can Access Columbia Military Bases Under New Deal

BBC NEWS | Posted 10.28.2009 | World

Read More: Drug Trafficking, Columbian Military, Gabriel Silva, Arms Accord, Us Columbia Accord, Us Columbia Deal, Robert Gates, World News

Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva has announced that a new military deal between Colombia and the US could be signed as early as Friday. Under...

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Obama Afghanistan Decision: Not A Question Of Whether To Send More Troops, But How Many

New York Times | Thom Shanker, Peter Baker and Helene Cooper | Posted 10.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Obama Afghanistan, Joe Biden Afghanistan, u.s. Troops Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Robert Gates Afghanistan, President Obama, Mcchystal Afghanistan, Afghanistan Strategy, U.S. Troops, Mcchrystal Troop Request, Al Quaeda, Taliban, Afghanistan Decision, Robert Gates, Stanley McChrystal, Politics News

President Obama's advisers are focusing on a strategy for Afghanistan aimed at protecting about 10 top population centers, administration officials sa...

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Afghanistan -- Winning Lessons from Vietnam

John Graham | Posted 10.19.2009 | World

Read More: Afghanistan, Vietnam, Kabul, Viet Cong, Opium Money, CORDS Nation-Building, Tet Massacre, Nguyen Van Thieu, Karzai, Thieu Government, CORDS, Obama Administration, Robert Gates, South Vietnamese, Saigon, World News
John Graham

The collapse of US efforts in Vietnam was made inevitable by the pervasive corruption and incompetence of a succession of governments in South Vietnam -- and here lies the lesson for Afghanistan.

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John Kerry On Afghanistan: Sending More Troops Is "Irresponsible" Until Afghan Election Is Settled

Reuters | Posted 10.17.2009 | World

Read More: Pentagon, Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan War, Department of Defense, Troops, Afghanistan, Troop Levels, Pakistan, Kerry, Kabul, Taliban, Hamid Karzai, John Kerry, Nato, Stanley McChrystal, Gen. McChrystal, Afghanistan Election, Gates, Robert Gates, World News

In an interview with CNN's "State of the Union," Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States should not proceed ...

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A Healthy Argument for Smart Power

Nancy Lindborg | Posted 10.15.2009 | World

Read More: Smart Power, Robert Gates, Hillary Clinton, Bipartisanship, Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Global Leadership Coalition, World News
Nancy Lindborg

As hyper-partisanship continues to dominate the health care debate in the nation's capital, it might be easy to overlook a bipartisan consensus that has quietly but unmistakably emerged in the foreign policy spectrum.

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Afghanistan: Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham: Update

Reese Schonfeld | Posted 10.14.2009 | World

Read More: Military Strategy, Army, Ieds, Mraps, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Pakistan, Oshkosh Truck Corp, M-Atvs, Robert Gates, Department of Defense, Humvees, Oshkosh MRAPS, Donald Rumsfield, Afghanistan War, World News
Reese Schonfeld

Even as we buy and produce new MRAPs, train the troops to use them, and look for ways to deliver them, the President is still attempting to define our strategy for how we will wage the war in Afghanistan.

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The Pentagon Kluge That Refuses to Die

Winslow T. Wheeler | Posted 10.14.2009 | Politics

Read More: F-22, Robert Gates, Earmarks, F-22 Raptor, Congress, Pork, Defense Spending, Defense Budget, Winslow T. Wheeler, Politics News
Winslow T. Wheeler

After a long fight, Gates and President Obama ultimately prevailed this summer in ending further F-22 production. Game over. Right? Anyone who thinks so doesn't appreciate the staying power of Congress' porkers.

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Gates, Clinton Crucial Voting Bloc On Afghanistan

New York Times | Mark Landler and Thom Shanker | Posted 10.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Afghan War, Gates Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, u.s. Troops Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Afghan Strategy, Afghanistan Strategy, Afghanistan Troops, Clinton Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Afghanistan Troop Levels, Hillary Clinton, Politics News

The last time the Obama administration arrived at a moment of truth in the debate over what to do about Afghanistan, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Robert...

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Cannibal Conservatism: Author Makes Up Charges Against Secretary Gates

Richard Allen Smith | Posted 10.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Boeing, Aircraft, Airbus, Defense Secretary Rober Gates, Robert Gates, Department of Defense, Fuel Tanker, Contracting, Procurement, Air Force, Northrop, Politics News
Richard Allen Smith

In a time of crisis, Republicans begin to eat their own. The infighting has been going on for months and has occasionally touched the national security establishment.

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Why Obama's Mideast Policy Will Work

Steven L. Spiegel | Posted 10.08.2009 | World

Read More: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Robert Gates, Middle East, Israel, Barack Obama, Obama Israel, World News
Steven L. Spiegel

The facts speak for themselves. Anyone concerned with Israel's survival as a Jewish state should stop criticizing Obama's policies.

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Jason Linkins

Media Pimping Mythical Obama-McChrystal Rift

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 10.06.2009 | Media

Read More: Barack Obama, Afghanistan, War in Afghanistan, Media Criticism, Robert Gates, Stanley McChrystal, Media News

The Washington Independent's Spencer Ackerman doesn't go for a whole lot of media scolding -- a point he reiterates today in a related blog post, sayi...

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