Soros Gives $1M to California Pot Legalization Measure

Woodward Book Reveals There Is No Plan In Afghanistan
Legendary Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward is out with another one of his inside-access tell-all books, this one about the internal Debates in the Obama Administration over the War in Afghanistan, and reading it one comes away with the impression that the Administration has never been able to articulate to itself what it wants to do in Afghanistan: Washington — Some of the critical players in President Obama’s National Security team doubt his strategy in Afghanistan will...

Bob Woodward book details Obama's Afghan war exit plan
  Your browser's settings may be preventing you from commenting on and viewing comments about this item. See instructions for fixing the problem. Discussion Policy

Giuliani criticizes Obama's handling of Afghan war
Reporting from Washington — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani used revelations in a new book about the Obama Administration to criticize the president's handling of the war in Afghanistan , saying his insistence on an exit strategy has put American Forces at greater risk. Giuliani also took issue with a quote attributed to President Obama by author Bob Woodward — that the country could "absorb" another Terrorist Attack like the One suffered in September 2001. "I don't know...

Axelrod to exit White House in 2011 to work on Obama reelection
Reporting from Washington — David Axelrod , a top advisor to President Obama and the main architect of his election victory in 2008, will be leaving the White House next year and returning to Chicago to work on the president's Reelection campaign, a White House aide said Thursday. Axelrod has not specified a departure date, but he plans to remain in his current position "well into 2011,'' the aide said. Get breaking news alerts delivered to your Mobile Phone. Text BREAKING to 52669....

New Woodward book details Obama's Afghan war struggles
Washington — President Barack Obama urgently looked for a way out of the War in Afghanistan last year, repeatedly pressing his top Military advisers for an exit plan that they never gave him, according to secret meeting notes and documents cited in a new book by Journalist Bob Woodward. Frustrated with his Military commanders for consistently offering only options that required significantly more Troops, Obama finally crafted his own strategy, dictating a classified six-page "terms...

Official defends Obama ahead of revelations in Woodward book
Washington (CNN) - A senior administration official defended President Barack Obama on Wednesday as a decisive commander-in-chief ahead of next week's release of a book that reveals an administration deeply divided over U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. "Obama's Wars," by Veteran Washington Journalist Bob Woodward, describes a frustrated president who urgently sought an exit plan, only to be provided with options that involved increased U.S. troop levels, the Washington Post reported Wednesday....

Greta Van Susteren Cancels Bob Woodward Interview After Publisher Won't Hand Over Book
Photo: Robyn Beck/Getty Images Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist Bob Woodward was set to go on Greta Van Susteren's On The Record to talk about his new book, Obama's Wars . Except he expected Greta to interview him without actually letting her read the book, because, presumably, its contents are under tight control. (As in, they're only being shopped out to Woodward's own paper, the Washington Post . ) Greta, naturally, was unimpressed with this approach. " On The Record at ten...

Book Says Obama Wanted Afghan Exit Strategy to Placate the Democratic Party
Bob Woodwards new book says political considerations dictated Obamas war strategy. Wednesday, September 22, 2010 By Staff, Associated Press President Barack Obama holds a review on the War in Afghanistan in the Situation Room of the White House on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/The White House, Pete Souza) Washington (AP) - President Barack Obama's top advisers spent much of the past 20 months arguing about policy and turf, according to a new book, with some top members of his...

White House Plays Down Divisions Over Afghan War
By ADAM ENTOUS and Yaroslav Trofimov Washington—The White House sought to play down internal divisions over strategy in Afghanistan laid bare by a new book that describes President Barack Obama as fixated on finding an exit strategy and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai as a manic depressive. "Obama's Wars," by Journalist Bob Woodward, details bitter policy and turf battles between many of Mr. Obama's top advisers as the administration reviewed its Afghanistan war strategy last year. That...

Gates: No Doubts on Afghan War Strategy
In a Press Conference designed incredibly enough around answering questions raised by a book which isn’t even out yet, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates insisted that there was too much being made of policy differences within the administration regarding the Afghan War . In further comments related to Bob Woodward’s book Obama’s Wars , Gates insisted he has absolutely no doubts about the current war strategy, despite mounting evidence that the situation has gotten...

Barack Obama 'infuriated with infighting' over Afghanistan
Barack Obama wrote his own six-page exit strategy for the War in Afghanistan after becoming infuriated with infighting in Washington over the future of the conflict, according to a new book.

The Hat Trick: How To Outreach America to Death
Bob Woodward has once again revealedto whatever degree one is willing to credit Woodward for unerring accuracy and integritymany disturbing actions and thoughts of an American president, but in this instance, its President Barack Obama. In excerpts from his soon to be released book, Obamas Wars , published on Sept. 22 in the Washington Post and New York Times , Mr. Obamas beliefs informing his performance as Commander in Chief are revealed much more clearly than Mr. Obama will likely...

Al Jazeera accuses NATO over Afghan reporter arrests
Kabul (AFP) – Al Jazeera television on Thursday accused NATO of trying to suppress its coverage of the War in Afghanistan after two of its cameramen were arrested by foreign forces this week. The Doha-based television network, which has been critical of NATO and the Afghan government, said the two Afghans were detained as part of "an attempt by the ISAF leadership to suppress its comprehensive coverage" of the conflict. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)...

Obama wanted Afghan exit plan, aides doubt his strategy: Woodward
President Obama wanted out of Afghanistan last year. And although the president agreed to triple troop levels in the embattled country, some in Obama's National Security team doubt that his strategy in Afghanistan will even be successful, according to a new book by Journalist Bob Woodward. The book, "Obama's Wars," details how the Obama Administration was -- and is -- extremely divided over strategy in Afghanistan. According to the book, the president said "I have two years with the public on...

Woodward Says Obama Advisers Doubted Afghan Strategy
According to Bob Woodward’s latest White House investigation, President Obama’s advisers disagreed vehemently about how to proceed in Afghanistan and some, including Special Envoy to the region Richard Holbrooke, expressed doubts that the new strategy would work. Woodward’s book, “Obama’s Wars,” also reportedly depicts tensions with the Military. Gen. David Petraeus is shut down when suggesting he might be able to get a longer timetable. Apparently the...

The Big Question: Will a new book reshape views on Afghanistan?
Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer insight into the biggest question burning up the blogosphere today. Today's question: Will the portrayal of the Obama Administration in Bob Woodward's new book impact Public support for the war? Background reading here . Brian Katulis, Center for American Progress, said: Probably not much - the book will titillate Beltway elites and dominate the political Talk Shows for a bit, but most Americans are shielded...

Defense officials: National security team unified on Afghan war strategy
Washington – Pushing back against characterizations made in a new book that the White House was riven by infighting over Afghan war strategy last year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. said Thursday that the U.S. strategy is sound and that President Obama’s National Security team is unified in carrying it out. “The relationship among senior officials in this administration is as harmonious as any I’ve experienced in my...

Obama Rolled By Pentagon Generals
There is no other way to spin this , no matter how hard they try , than the reality: Obama was rolled by his generals and is a fundamentally weak president: "President Obama urgently looked for a way out of the War in Afghanistan last year, repeatedly pressing his top Military advisers for an exit plan that they never gave him, according to secret meeting notes and documents cited in a new book by Journalist Bob Woodward. As Col. Lang notes: The bottom line here is that President Obama...

Unfit To Be Commander-in-Chief
By now you know that Bob Woodward, noted co-author of All The President’s Men , has penned a bombshell book exposing how Obama's initial attempts to take control of the War in Afghanistan resulted in a plan driven more by politics than U.S. National Security. On “absorbing another Terrorist Attack,” former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said, “The notion that a President would say that in that kind of callous and just utterly robotic way, I think is...

Gates: No Doubts on Afghan War Strategy
In a Press Conference designed incredibly enough around answering questions raised by a book which isn’t even out yet, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates insisted that there was too much being made of policy differences within the administration regarding the Afghan War . In further comments related to Bob Woodward’s book Obama’s Wars , Gates insisted he has absolutely no doubts about the current war strategy, despite mounting evidence that the situation has gotten...

'Obama's Wars' and clandestine operations
Bob Woodward’s new book “Obama’s Wars” is making waves for laying bare the policy divisions and the personality clashes within the administration over the U.S. President’s Afghan policy. The author, according to the excerpts published by the New York Times and the Washington Post ahead of the book’s release next week, exposes the colliding egos of senior political and Military figures in even more stark detail than Rolling Stone ’s profile of General...

With Dim Prospects for Negotiations, Afghan War Likely to Drag On
After all, a prospective deal looks simple: The United States wants the Taliban to renounce al Qaeda; the Taliban wants the United States to leave Afghanistan. Not simple, as President Obama is finding out. On the contrary, according to senior military and diplomatic experts, the Afghan War is likely to drag on indefinitely, because prospects for either a clear battlefield victory or a quick negotiated settlement are non-existent and bleak, in that order. For the United States, an outright...

The Washington Post Is Searching For "America's Next Great Pundit," Again
Are you opinionated and outspoken? Have you grown tired of scanning the Op-Ed pages of major Newspapers and thinking to yourself, “Man, I could write better than this clown”? Do you have a secret yearning to appear on a Reality TV competition? If so, the Washington Post is looking for you. The D.C. paper just launched a contest called “America’s Next Great Pundit.” The grand prize? A three-month contract with the Post , during which the winner will pen his or...

Military Coup of 2012
This was obvious to those of us reading between the lines. (See, for example, “ Debating Afghanistan: Beyond the McChrystal Leak ,” “ McChrystal: Biden Afghanistan Plan ‘Short-Sighted’ ,” and “ Obama vs. the Generals ” — all written this time last year.) But this is an issue that few pay much attention to unless it truly spills over. BBC North America editor Mark Mardell asks, “ Is Obama at war with the Military? “ He...

Bum Rap?
Stanley McChrystal didn’t do what he was accused of doing. The New York Times reports: An Army inquiry into a Rolling Stone magazine article about Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal has found that it was not the general or senior officers on his staff who made the most egregious comments that led to his abrupt dismissal as the top Afghan commander in June, according to Army and Pentagon officials. But the review, commissioned after an embarrassing and disruptive episode, does not wholly...