"At an international conference in Singapore, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters who asked about the Somalia reports on Saturday, "Frankly, I don't know exactly what was going on. I've been on the road. And I wouldn't be commenting on operational activities anyway."

Someone get this guy a cell phone, or an aide who knows how to use concierge.

Russia's President Putin made a very eye-opening speech at the Munich Conference on Security Policy this Saturday. The speech was widely reported in the media but in most cases was incomplete or inaccurately translated, no surprises there. Amongst other things, his speech contained a scarcely veiled warning to the United States and other NATO countries that they were pushing Russia to the brink of a direct confrontation.

Deploying anti-ballistic missile systems on Russia's border under the ruse of "shielding America from North Korean nuclear missiles" was not fooling anyone, especially as North Korea, if it had such weapons, would be pointing them in the exact opposite direction across the Pacific ocean. He also warned "Simultaneously the so-called flexible frontline American bases with up to five thousand men in each. It turns out that NATO has put its frontline forces on our borders..."

Speaker: Putin, Wladimir W.

I'm not sure if Ray McGovern is aware of the irony of double entendre in the title of this analysis or not. But it's delicious none the less... and it's great that we the people have a veteran intelligence professional on our side.

Show Me The Intelligence - Ray McGovern
January 19, 2007 - Have you noticed? Neither President George W. Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney have cited any U.S. intelligence assessments to support their fateful decision to send 21,500 more troops to referee the civil war in Iraq. This is a far cry from October 2002, when a formal National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was rushed through in order to trick Congress into giving its nihil obstat for the attack on Iraq.

Why no intelligence justification this time around? Because there is none....(more)

As expected, the custom rubber-stamp graphic gets an encore today as the Senate rubber-stamped Smirk's choice to head the Pentagon, Robert Gates, by a 95-2 vote. Interestingly, the two dissenting voices came from the right side of the aisle, Sen.'s Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Ricky "Man-on Dog" Santorum (R-PA), because they saw Iraq Study Group alumni Robert Gates as too willing to talk with Iran and Syria in trying to solve the Iraqnam Quagmire...

Gates Confirmed As Secretary of Defense (AP) - The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wed. to confirm Robert Gates as defense secretary, with Democrats and Republicans portraying him as the man who will help overhaul pResident Bush's Iraq policies. The 95-2 vote was a victory of sorts for Bush, who named Gates to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld at the Pentagon on Nov. 8, a day after voters gave Democrats control of Congress for next year.... (more)

Robert Gates received approval from the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday on his nomination to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense and will proceed to a full Senate confirmation vote. This will likely happen as soon as Wednesday's Senate session.

Here's some interesting notes from Tuesday's Senate hearings…

The closest thing to a bombshell came when Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) asked the nominee point-blank "Mr. Gates, do you believe that we are currently winning in Iraq?"

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved Robert Gates nomination 21-0 in a one day rubberstamp hearing... Just exactly what was the hurry, Democrats? What about Iran-Contra? What about IraqGate? What about fixed inteligence to fit the policy? What about conflict of interest oil-business ties? GMAFB, another rubberstamp whitewash...

Senate Panel Approves Gates - At Confirmation Hearing, Defense Pick Says U.S. Is Not Winning in Iraq = Robert M. Gates was unanimously approved by a Senate committee yesterday to become President Bush's new defense secretary, after a day-long confirmation hearing in which he bluntly stated that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq. Gates also told the panel that "it's too soon to tell" whether the Bush administration made the right decision in launching the invasion in March 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. In confirmation hearings that left both Democrats and Republicans praising his candor, Gates warned that the war risks provoking a "regional conflagration" in the Middle East unless a new strategy can arrest Iraq's slide toward chaos...