Word: americans
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Those who know Gates consider him a realist in the mold of his mentor Brent Scowcroft, which is why it was surprising to hear such an idealistic answer. But American exceptionalism can signify many things. Its assertion of America's historical uniqueness can suggest that the U.S. has special global obligations and privileges. Exceptionalism can be a dangerous faith because of how much it can extenuate and excuse. Gates is not a philosopher, and it is hard to know what he means by his profession of the exceptionalist faith. It may be just a fancy way of expressing the more...
...Cold War, sir." Gates thought for a moment. Even his chief of staff, Robert Rangel, the most influential unknown man in Washington, seemed curious to see what the boss would say. "If there's a consistency, it is my belief that the country is - I am very much an American exceptionalist" - he paused - "and I believe that we are, as a country, the greatest force for good in the history of the world...
Upon arriving in Kabul last spring, McChrystal flooded the Afghan countryside with counterinsurgency experts who came up with dire assessments and stated a need for more troops. Even Gates seemed blindsided by his own general. Gates had been public about avoiding a big American footprint in the Pashtun countryside. But after the McChrystal team's findings began leaking, Gates shifted course. To me, he said, "Once McChrystal said, 'This is what I need,' then I was there. And my goal was, how do we get Stan McChrystal as much of what he's asked for as quickly as possible...
...civilian massacres we would not know about. The poor girl in Vietnam running naked down the street away from napalm," says Ben Wizner of the ACLU. "It's very important for us to have that documentary history. The backlash they are most concerned about is from the American public, not the world public." (See the top 10 news stories...
...fixer and a loyal soldier. In Washington those qualities go a long way. For a long time now, the wise men in Washington have been the problem solvers, and the fixers have been regarded as sages. But the fixer is not the moral leader, the one who provides American policy with its purposes. It's worth remembering that what finally matters are the values and the principles he is fixing...