Obama Foreign Policy: Realists to Reign?

Less than two months before taking office, President-elect Barack Obama is making clear that realists – some more identified with Republicans and the military than with Democrats – are likely to rule the incoming administration's foreign policy roost, at...

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JFK Episode Suggests Obama’s Iraq Plan at Risk

The decision by President-elect Barack Obama to keep Robert M. Gates on as defense secretary has touched off a debate over whether Obama can pursue his commitment to rapid withdrawal from Iraq even though Gates has defended George W. Bush's surge policy and opposed...

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Friday: 21 Iraqis Killed, 58 Wounded

Updated at 6:35 p.m. EST, Nov. 28, 2008Thousands of Sadr followers protested the passage of a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement during Friday prayers today, while a bomber targeted one of their mosques in Mussayab. At least 21 Iraqis were killed and 58 more were wounded...

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Seeking Integrity at the CIA

Editor's Note: An underlying factor in the national security crises confronting the United States has been the corruption of the US. intelligence process, with analyses tailored to fit the desires of the policymakers and with laws bent to permit torture and other...

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An Idea Whose Time Has Gone

Rumors in early November that Hillary Clinton would be Barack Obama's Secretary of State have by now been substantiated; the official announcement is thought to be only days away. Other Clinton-era officials, such as Bill Richardson, have been tapped for cabinet...

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The End of Guantánamo

The repatriation from Guantánamo of Salim Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, to serve out the last month of his sentence for providing material support for terrorism in Yemen, will surely hasten the demise of the prison, as promised by President-elect Barack...

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Neocon Lobby Group Loses Its Angel

HONG KONG - The right-wing US advocacy group Freedom's Watch is reportedly shutting down as its main funder, Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, becomes one of the high-profile casualties of the global economic downturn. Freedom's Watch, which according to the Las Vegas...

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Thursday: 8 Iraqis Killed; 43 Wounded

Updated at 6:55 p.m. EST, Nov. 27, 2008Parliament today approved a contentious U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that will allow U.S. troops to stay in the country for three more years. Meanwhile, at least eight Iraqis were killed and 43 more were wounded in the latest...

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Who Rules the Pentagon?

The Obama national security "team" – part of that much-hailed "team of rivals" – does not yet exist, but it does seem to be heaving into view. And so far, its views seem anything but rivalrous. Mainstream reporters and pundits lovingly refer to them as...

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