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Robert Gates

Former Insider Shatters Credibility of Military Commissions

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, Preventive Detention, Mohamed Jawad, David Kris, Department of Defense, War on Terror, Harsh Interrogations, President Obama, Guantanamo, Obama Administration, John Hutson, World News, Dick Cheney, Habeas Corpus, Politics News, Sen. Carl Levin, Robert Gates, Jeh Johnson, National Security, Habeas Corpus Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, World, Terrorism, Guantanamo Detainees, Senate Armed Services Committee, Susan Crawford, David Addington, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Military Commissions, House Committee on the Judiciary, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, Capt. John Murphy, George Toscas, Federal Court, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, Torture, Politics News
Andy Worthington

Lt. Col. Vandeveld said, "I simply could not in good conscience continue to work for an ad-hoc, hastily created apparatus whose evident resort to expediency and ethical compromise were so contrary to my own."

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History Has Not Yet Judged Bush

James Denselow | Posted 08.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: Bush Legacy, Robert McNamara, Iraq, War in Iraq, George W. Bush, Kurds, George Piro, General David Petraeus, Fbi, Paul Bremer, Osama Bin Laden, Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Saddam Hussein, Robert Gates, Ryan Crocker, Politics News
James Denselow

Certainly Bush's rewriting of his Iraq legacy will be helped by his decision to reverse his earlier policies, abandoning the idealism of the top-down reinvention of Iraq, for reality-based pragmatism.

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But Am I Safer, Mr. Secretary?

Kerry Eleveld | Posted 08.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: Obama Dont Ask Dont Tell, Gays in the Military, Dadt, Admiral Mike Mullen, Mike Mullen, Robert Gates, Dont Ask Dont Tell, Defense Secretary Gates, Politics News
Kerry Eleveld

With all due respect, Mr. Secretary, the next time you're mulling the ouster of gay service members, skip the paternalism and just tell us whether we're safer.

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Defense Department Lawyer: Post-Acquittal Detentions Possible

The Washington Independant | Posted 08.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: Department of Defense, Afghanistan, Civil Rights, Terrorism, Guantanamo, Obama Administration, Obama, Hamdi-v-Rumsfeld, Gitmo, Detainees, Mel Martinez, Jeh Johnson, Iraq, Constitution, Robert Gates, Politics News

Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson moved the Obama administration into new territory from a civil liberties perspective. Asked by Sen. Mel...

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Jason Linkins

As Debate On DADT Rages, Robert Gates Looks For 'Humane' Stopgap

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 08.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Don't Ask Don't Tell, Department of Defense, Barack Obama, Robert Gates, Obama Don't Ask Don't Tell, Politics News

Spencer Ackerman flags a "curious choice of words" from Defense Secretary Bob Gates, apparently bravely stating the case that maybe, someday, someone ...

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Gates: Pentagon Considering Easing Don't Ask Don't Tell

AP | ANNE GEARAN | Posted 07.31.2009 | Politics

Read More: Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Pentagon Don't Ask Don't Tell, Pentagon DADT, Obama Don't Ask Don't Tell, Robert Gates, Barack Obama, Politics News

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he wants to make the law prohibiting gays from serving openly in the armed forces "more...

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Pentagon, DHS Divided On Military's Role at Border

washingtonpost.com | Spencer S. Hsu | Posted 07.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Janet Napolitano, Military, Department of Homeland Security Report, US Military, Pentago, Obama, War on Drugs, Robert Gates, Politics News

A proposal to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to counter drug trafficking has triggered a bureaucratic standoff between the Penta...

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Will Congress Put Useless Fighter Jets Above America?

Jon Soltz | Posted 07.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: F-35-Lightning-Ii, Pentagon, Nuclear Waste, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Department of Defense, Robert Gates, President Obama, F-22 Raptor, F-22, Nuclear-Waste, Department of Energy, Defense Spending, Pentagon Budget, Defense Department, Barack Obama, Politics News
Jon Soltz

Congress is about to throw $369 million (on a down-payment of $2 billion) for a dozen F-22 fighter jets that even the Pentagon doesn't want.

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Gates: US Putting More Missile Defense Around Hawaii

AP | ANNE GEARAN and PAULINE JELINEK | Posted 07.20.2009 | Politics

Read More: Robert Gates, Missile Defense, North Korea Missile, North Korea, Politics News

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is tracking a ship from North Korea that may be carrying illicit weapons, the first vessel monitored under toughe...

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Kim Jong-Un, 'Brilliant Comrade' Touted In North Korean Media

AP | VIJAY JOSHI | Posted 07.13.2009 | World

Read More: North Korea, Foreign Affairs, Advocacy, Nuclear Weapons, North Korea Nuclear Program, North Korea Missile, North Korea Missile Test, North Korea Nuclear Weapons, North Korea Nuclear Test, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong-Il, South Korea, Barack Obama, Robert Gates, Kim Jong Un, Brilliant Comrade, Kim Jong Il Brilliant Comrade, Yongmyong-Han Dongji, Possessing Nuclear Weapons, World News

SEOUL, South Korea — The youngest son of North Korea's authoritarian leader has been given the title of "Brilliant Comrade," a sign the communis...

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National Guard: Gates Weakening Security

The Hill | Posted 07.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Gates National Guard, Air Force, Joint Cargo Aircraft, Robert Gates National Guard, Robert Gates, National Guard, Politics News

National Guard leaders from 48 of the 50 states sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Thursday warning that a budget deci...

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Robert Gates To GOP Leaders: You're Putting Our Security At Risk

The Plum Line | Posted 07.12.2009 | Politics

Read More: International Monetary Fund, Gates Imf Funding, Roberts Gates Gop, IMF Funding, Robert Gates Imf Funding, Gates, Robert Gates, Politics News

Wow. Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton are now thrusting themselves into the raging fight over the White House's request for Congressional cash for the...

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Gates: North Korea Shows No Sign Of Retaliation For Sanctions

AP | Posted 07.12.2009 | World

Read More: North Korea, Foreign Affairs, Advocacy, Robert Gates, North Korea Nuclear Program, North Korea Missile, North Korea Sanctions, United Nations, United Nation Sanctions, Obama North Korea, Kim Jong Il, North Korea Threat, North Korea History, New Nortyh Korea Threat, World News

BRUSSELS, Belgium — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it does not appear that North Korea has made military preparations to follow throug...

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Afghan War: Next 18 Months Is Crucial, Pentagon Says

AP | LARA JAKES | Posted 07.10.2009 | World

Read More: Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs, Advocacy, Afghanistan War, Obama Afghanistan, War in Afghanistan, Afghanistan Surge, Afghan Taliban, Surge in Afghanistan, Pentagon, War Wire, Taliban, Robert Gates, Stanley McChrystal, Barack Obama, World News

WASHINGTON — Steps taken over the next 18 months to defeat the Taliban and other extremists will ultimately decide whether the war in Afghanista...

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US Afghanistan Strategy Reviewed For Fifth Time This Year

McClatchy News | Posted 07.10.2009 | World

Read More: Mcchrystal, Us Shifts Afghanistan Strategy, General Mcchrystal, Robert Gates, Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs, Stanley McChrystal, Afghanistan Strategy, Obama Afghanistan Strategy, General Petraeus, Mcchrystal Strategy, Barack Obama, Advocacy, War Wire, World News

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has given the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan 60 days to conduct another review of the American strategy there, t...

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Forgotten: The Second Anniversary of a Guantanamo Suicide

Andy Worthington | Posted 06.30.2009 | World

Read More: Yemen, World, War on Terror, Terrorism, President Obama, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Saudi Rehabilitation, Abdul Rahman Al-Amri, Taliban, Barack Obama, World News, Dick Cheney, Al Qaeda, Politics, Robert Gates, Saudi Arabia, Guantanamo Bay, Breaking Politics News, Guantanamo Suicides, The Guantanamo Files, Closing Guantanamo, World News
Andy Worthington

Today, unnoticed in the Western media (although I can't vouch for the Arabic world) is the second anniversary of the death at Guantánamo -- apparently by suicide -- of Abdul Rahman al-Amri.

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Gates: North Korea "A Harbinger Of A Dark Future"

AP | LARA JAKES and VIJAY JOSHI | Posted 06.30.2009 | World

Read More: Robert Gates, North Korea Nuclear Program, North Korea, World News

SINGAPORE — North Korea's progress on nuclear weapons and long-range missiles is "a harbinger of a dark future" and has created an urgent need f...

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Gates Warns North Korea That US Will Respond Quickly

AP | LARA JAKES | Posted 06.29.2009 | World

Read More: Robert Gates North Korea, Robert Gates, North Korea Missiles, North Korea, World News

SINGAPORE — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned North Korea on Saturday that the United States would respond quickly if moves by the comm...

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Robert Gates Unleashed: "What Are They Going To Do, Fire Me?"

TIME | Joe Klein | Posted 06.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Gates Pentagon, Gates Obama, Robert Gates, Robert Gates Pentagon, Gates Time, Secretary of Defense, Gates Pentagon Budget, Pentagon Budget, Politics News

A few weeks ago, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates trooped up to Capitol Hill to answer questions about the new Pentagon budget. This is an unseemly s...

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U.S. to Respond to North Korea with 'Strongest Possible Adjectives'

Andy Borowitz | Posted 05.26.2009 | Comedy

Read More: Borowitz Report, Andy Borowitz, Joe Biden, Robert Gates, Nuclear Weapons, Kim Jong Il, Barack Obama, North Korea, Comedy News
Andy Borowitz

Standing at the President's side, Vice President Joseph Biden weighed in with some tough adjectives of his own, branding Kim Jong-Il "totally wack and illin'."

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Sec. Gates Hails Soldier Photographed In Pink Boxers

Editor and Publisher | Posted 06.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Pink Boxers, Afghanistan Pink Boxers, Zachary Boyd, Soldier Pink Boxers, Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Politics News

Fun read with photo here in the new NYT "Lens" blog: The story behind the front page photo on May 12 that showed a few U.S. soldiers fighting the Tal...

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Gates: Guantanamo "Taint" On U.S. Reputation

AP | Posted 06.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Robert Gates, Gates Guantanamo, Obama Guantanamo, Barack Obama, Obama Gitmo, Gates Obama, Gates Today Show, Politics News

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the Obama administration had no choice but to order the shutdown of the prison at Guantanamo be...

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Air Force Boots Their 25 Million Dollar Aviator (He's Gay) VIDEO

Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 06.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Usaf, US Military, Congress, Lara Jakes, President Obama, Associated Press, Admiral Mike Mullen, Lt. Dan Choi, Air Force, Obama Pentagon, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Gays in the Military, Victor Fehrenbach, Geoff Morrell, Video, Robert Gates, Rachel Maddow, Dadt, Politics News
Aubrey Sarvis

The Air Force is about to discharge this guy, a virtual poster boy for recruiting, because he is gay? Someone has to be kidding. This is sheer madness.

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Robert Gates Says It Will Take At Least 2-4 Years For Afghan Army To Take The Lead (VIDEO)

CBS News | Posted 06.14.2009 | World

Read More: Afghan Army Take the Lead, Gates on Afghanistan, Pentagon Chief, Robert Gates, US Troops in Afghanistan, At Least Two to Four Years, Afghan Army, World News

The job of wartime defense secretary is not a job anybody should like says the man holding it right now, Robert M. Gates, in a candid and wide-ranging...

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Judge Gladys Kessler Releases Yemeni Detainee, Slams "Mosaic" Of Guantanamo Intelligence And Unreliable Witnesses

Andy Worthington | Posted 06.14.2009 | World

Read More: US Supreme Court, Guantanamo Evidence, War on Terror, Terrorism, Pakistan, Abu Zubaydah, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Taliban, Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, US District Court, Justice Department, Eric Holder, Al Qaeda, Habeas Corpus, Politics News, Politics, Bagram, Judge Richard Leon, Robert Gates, Obama Guantanamo, Mohammed El-Gharani, Jabran Al-Qahtani, Habeas Corpus Guantanamo, Mosaic Theory, Guantanamo Bay, Dark Prison, The Guantanamo Files, Judge Gladys Kessler, Torture, Faisalabad, Foreign Affairs, Advocacy, World News
Andy Worthington

I am surprised that senior Obama officials seem to have been content to let a Bush-era approach to prosecution survive unchanged.

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