Pentagon Report to Call for Steep Iraq Drawdown | Newsweek Scope

Band Apart
John Barry 10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
President Obama and his advisers are grappling with questions about Afghanistan far deeper than merely how many troops to send. How do they handle the Taliban, the central government, the countryside versus cities? The larger strategy that the troops, however many of them, are there to implement remains unresolved.
Can Gates Turn It Around?
John Barry 5/15/2009 12:00:00 AM
Robert Gates's title is secretary of defense, but he sees his job as secretary of war. That's the key to understanding why Gates has summarily axed Gen. David McKiernan as U.S. commander in Afghanistan. It also explains why Gates has chosen a Black Ops wiz, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to replace him.
The Anti-Cheney?
Michael Hirsh 8/27/2008 12:00:00 AM
During the hard-fought primaries last spring, Barack Obama swooped in from the campaign trail for a brief stop at the Senate hearings on Iraq. With Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker giving testimony before the Foreign Relations Committee, it was one of those rare moments when the spotlight panned back to Washington. And Obama didn't disappoint. Even with all the distractions of taking on Hillary Clinton, Obama asked one of the most penetrating questions of those two days of hearings: How much of an Iranian and Al Qaeda presence in Iraq would be acceptable before we would leave? Both Petraeus and Crocker seemed caught by surprise by this realpolitik reckoning, and Obama received kudos in the media for his smarts. Even Petraeus acknowledged that Obama was "exactly right" in saying that the most the United States could achieve was not to wipe out Al Qaeda entirely but to leave behind a "manageable situation."
Bob Gates’s Victory
Michael Hirsh 9/27/2007 12:00:00 AM
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is, quite by choice, the anti-Rumsfeld—a man so low-key and consensus-oriented that it's hard to find his fingerprints on any particular policy. But no one can win internal battles the way Gates has been doing in Washington lately without leaving a few traces.
Blame For The Top Brass

Given all the recriminations over the mess in Iraq, it is remarkable how little criticism has fallen on the U.S. military. Americans want to honor the sacrifice of the troops in the field and they may feel guilty about the cold reception given many veterans returning from the Vietnam War. But in the public blame game that's erupted on Capitol Hill and on the cable news talk shows, the armed services are largely given a free pass.
IRAQ
Iraq's Repairman
Rod Nordland