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Wait! We're Not Done with Bush Yet...

3:18 PM, January 19, 2009 | Comments (25)
Celebratory is a safe way to describe the mood in Washington. And not just for Barack Obama's big day on Tuesday. When Obama raises his right hand, it will mark for millions of his supporters the end of something else. At Dupont Circle in Northwest Washington,...

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Posted Saturday, November 08, 2008 4:03 PM

Gates Signals He Would Stay On

Michael Hirsh
The Obama transition team isn’t saying anything about who the president-elect plans to pick as his Defense secretary, and current Pentagon chief Robert Gates has routinely stated his desire to return home to Washington state. At the same time, however, the widely admired Gates “has never closed the door on the possibility of serving if asked,” his spokesman, Geoff Morrell, told NEWSWEEK on Friday. Gates is also acutely aware of the pitfalls of a rough transition, especially at a time when the United States is engaged in two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gates, who has already served seven presidents, has sometimes reflected on the difficulties of the handoff from Republican Gerald Ford—whose National Security Council he served on—to Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976-7. “He says they basically lost an entire year of substantive work at a crucial time in the nuclear dialogue with the Soviets,” says Morrell.

The Pentagon chief has been thinking about the transition since long before the election, naming John Hamre to chair his Defense Policy Board last year. Hamre, a former deputy Defense secretary under Bill Clinton and also a possibility for the top job under Obama, is currently president of the prestigious Center for Strategic and International Studies. Gates has worked closely with Hamre, asking him to help develop policies for the next administration. “The secretary tasked Hamre and the Defense Policy Board with figuring out the five issues the new [secretary] will likely have to confront aside from the obvious ones, Afghanistan and Iraq,” says Morrell. Gates has "done it and he's seen the consequences [a difficult transition] can have. That's why he's so concerned about making sure we are as prepared as possible." Democrats as well as Republicans on Capitol Hill have praised Gates for his efforts at bipartisanship after the rocky tenure of Donald Rumsfeld. A spokeswoman for the Obama team, Wendy Morigi, when asked on Saturday about Gates’ prospects for being asked to stay on, said she had no comment.

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Posted By: Daniel Álvarez (November 14, 2008 at 11:58 AM)

Obama should pay attention on “The 3 Evil Empires”—)Rusia , China & Iran.They wanna dominate the world thru the Organisation for Shanghai Cooperation in Eurasia & thru A.L.B.A. (Led by Venezuela) in the Americas.

Another issue would be let the Assyrian nation (Placed in the “Assyrian Triangle”) be independent from Iraq since they being Christians & having such an important history in the world were massacred in the 1800’s by other peoples like Jews were in 1940’s.They are Semites but not Arabs like Jews which are also Semites but not Arabs.They have their own alphabet.They speak Aramaic as Jesus did.Look at this about them:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_independence

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Posted By: Anonymous (November 11, 2008 at 11:04 AM)

PingBack from http://popmartian.com/techpile/2008/11/11/obama-transition-chatter-111008-2/

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Posted By: Trooper101st (November 11, 2008 at 9:10 AM)

I think Bob Gates has been OUTSTANDING as Sec-Def. He pulls no punches, speaks his mind, and is a decisive decision maker. He has a handle on our military's shortcomings, its mistakes, and he is settled in at this position. Obama MUST pick the most qaulified people, regardless of party or personal favor. Do you recall FEMA Dir. Brown? WHY was he appointed to such an important post? He was a DISASTER. Rumsfeld is another man, blinded by his neo-con views, totally missed the point of 9/11. It was islamic extremists who pulled that off--NOT Saddam Hussein. How many lives did his stupid decisions cost? After 9/11, Rummy wanted to bomb IRAQ...coz there were more targets...UNREAL. Powell, and Chuck Hagel should be hired for thier expertise in dealing with National Security issues. I hope it happens, these are good men. We need to crush the T-ban/AQ, thats #1 on the war front. Iraq will degenerate into civil war soon, and I would take up the Kurds offer of basing US troops, airpower there. MALIKI is Iran's "boy", thats why he wants us out so bad. The hell with him.

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