April 18, 2010 7:38 pm
The New York Times, “Gates Says U.S. Lacks Policy to Curb Iran’s Nuclear Drive”
by David E. Sanger and Thom Shanker
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has warned in a secret three-page memorandum to top White House officials that the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran’s steady progress toward nuclear capability, according to government officials familiar with the document.
Several officials said the highly classified analysis, written in January to President Obama’s national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, came in the midst of an intensifying effort inside the Pentagon, the White House and the intelligence agencies to develop new options for Mr. Obama. They include a set of military alternatives, still under development, to be considered should diplomacy and sanctions fail to force Iran to change course.
Officials familiar with the memo’s contents would describe only portions dealing with strategy and policy, and not sections that apparently dealt with secret operations against Iran, or how to deal with Persian Gulf allies.
The New York Times article continues here.
April 11, 2010 4:17 pm
Fox News, “Gates Defends Soldiers in Iraq Shooting Video, Says Footage Lacks Context”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday defended the soldiers shown firing on a group of people near Baghdad in a classified military video released last week, saying the troops were caught in a “split-second” situation and the video doesn’t show the “broader picture.”
Gates acknowledged that the grainy, black-and-white video showing men on the streets running from gunfire while U.S. troops appear to make playful remarks, is a “hard thing to see,” but said he doesn’t anticipate the footage will hurt the U.S. image abroad.
“It’s unfortunate. It’s clearly not helpful, but by the same token I think it should not have any lasting consequences,” Gates told ABC’s “This Week.”
Fox News article continues here.
January 11, 2010 8:53 pm
Yahoo! News (AP), “In Hasan case, superiors ignored their own worries”
by Richard Lardner
WASHINGTON – A Defense Department review of the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, has found the doctors overseeing Maj. Nidal Hasan’s medical training repeatedly voiced concerns over his strident views on Islam and his inappropriate behavior, yet continued to give him positive performance evaluations that kept him moving through the ranks.
The picture emerging from the review ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates is one of supervisors who failed to heed their own warnings about an officer ill-suited to be an Army psychiatrist, according to information gathered during the internal Pentagon investigation and obtained by The Associated Press. The review has not been publicly released.
Hasan, 39, is accused of murdering 13 people on Nov. 5 at Fort Hood, the worst killing spree on a U.S. military base.
Yahoo! News (AP) article continues here.
