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Robert Gates

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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Memo to Obama: Dismiss McChrystal

Michael Carmichael | Posted 10.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: Al-Qa'eda, Vice President Biden, Robert Gates, International Institutite of Strategic Studies, Harry Truman, Stanley McChrystal, Douglas MacArthur, Barack Obama, Afghanistan War, Politics News
Michael Carmichael

When Truman realized that General MacArthur was insubordinate, he dismissed him. When General McChrystal spoke out in London, he usurped the power of the president to design and execute foreign policy.

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Conde Nast to End War in Afghanistan

Andy Borowitz | Posted 10.06.2009 | Comedy

Read More: Borowitz Report, Andy Borowitz, Taliban, Department of Defense, Conde Nast, Robert Gates, Afghanistan, Comedy News
Andy Borowitz

In what some experts are calling a bold and unorthodox strategy, the U.S. Department of Defense has hired the Conde Nast magazine group to end the unpopular war in Afghanistan.

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Robert Gates Wants War Advice To Obama Kept Private

The Washington Post | Ann Scott Tyson and Scott Wilson | Posted 10.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: Kabul, Pentagon, Troop Surge, Gen. Jones, Strategy, Troop Levels, Afghanistan War, Nato, Counterinsurgency, Robert Gates, General Jones, Stanley McChrystal, Taliban, Gen. Stanley Mcchrystal, Military, Afghanistan, Insurgency, General Mcchrystal, James L. Jones, Terrorism, White House, Obama, Politics News

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates stressed Monday that military and civilian leaders should keep their advice to President Obama on Afghanistan privat...

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75 Guantanamo Prisoners Cleared for Release; 31 Could Leave Today

Andy Worthington | Posted 10.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: President Obama, Guantanamo, Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, World News, Dick Cheney, Habeas Corpus, Politics News, US House of Representatives, Robert Gates, Fouad Al-Rabiah, Saudi Arabia, US Senate, Habeas Corpus Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, Kuwait, Judge Gladys Kessler, Closing Guantanamo, Yemen, World, Guantanamo Detainees, Greg Craig, Guantanamo Task Force, Saudi Rehabilitation, Yemeni Detainees Guantanamo, Ayman Batarfi, US District Court, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Uighurs, Guantanamo Uighurs, U.S. Court of Appeals, Politics News
Andy Worthington

If the rationale for not releasing the Yemenis from Guantánamo was extended to the U.S. prison system, no prisoner would ever be released at the end of their sentence, because prison "might have radicalized" them.

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Gates: Military Will Fall In Line Behind Obama On Afghanistan

AP | LARA JAKES | Posted 10.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: Obama Afghanistan, Gates Afghanistan, Gates Troops Afghanistan, Obama Afghan War, Gates u.s. Troops, President Obama, Gates Afghan Strategy, Obama Afghan Strategy, Obama Troop Levels, Robert Gates, Gates Afghan War, Afghanistan Troop Levels, Politics News

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the U.S. military will not hesitate in carrying out whatever mission President Barack Obama dec...

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Inside Afghanistan's "Black Hawk Down"

nytimes.com | THOM SHANKER | Posted 10.03.2009 | World

Read More: u.s. Foreign Policy, Wanat, Robert Gates, U.S. Military, War in Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Afghanistan's Black Hawk Down, President Obama, Stanley McChrystal, Battle of Wanat, Defense Department, Afghanistan War, World News

The battle of Wanat is being described as the "Black Hawk Down" of Afghanistan, with the 48 American soldiers and 24 Afghan soldiers outnumbered three...

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Obama Advisers Split On Afghanistan, Complicating His Decision

AP | LARA JAKES and ANDREW TAYLOR | Posted 10.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Afghan War, Obama Afghanistan, Gates Afghanistan, u.s. Troops Afghanistan, Mcchrystal Afghanistan, President Obama, Stanley McChrystal, Obama Advisors Afghanistan, U.S. Troops, Clinton Afghanistan, Robert Gates, National Security Council, Politics News

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to delay a face-to-face briefing from the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, who hours earlier had warned...

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Gates Has Growing Doubts About U.S's Afghan Strategy

Wall Street Journal | YOCHI J. DREAZEN | Posted 10.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Afghanistan Strategy, Warwire, Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Politics News

President Barack Obama met with senior counselors for three hours Wednesday to launch his review of Afghan war strategy, amid indications that his def...

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