Word: gelb
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...Senior Democratic Senators whisper that the Administration is clueless about how to get things done. Liberal bloggers openly express contempt for what they say is incompetence compounded by misguided priorities. The respected Washington wise man Les Gelb, former head of the Council of Foreign Relations, channeled the Beltway's conventional wisdom when he wrote that a full-scale personnel shake-up is the only way Obama can save his presidency. The media has largely shaken off its febrile Obamamania and adopted a "can't this gang shoot straight?" posture toward nearly every Administration action, reverting to the standard reflexive skepticism...
...Whatever Gates chooses to take a position on, Gates is the single most influential guy," says Leslie Gelb, the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and a skeptic of the Administration's strategy in Afghanistan. Gelb points out that in early December, days after President Obama's West Point speech announcing his decision to send 30,000 additional troops (on top of the 32,000 deployed in 2009) to the war zone and then begin bringing them home in July 2011, Gates went on the Sunday talk shows to say the withdrawal would depend on conditions...
...lamppost in Kabul like several of his predecessors?) And as for the argument, made passionately by some in the military, that a specific date for starting the withdrawal is an invitation for the Taliban to lie low until we leave: "They simply won't do that," says Leslie H. Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations. "If you stand down, you allow the enemy - even this inept Afghan government - to create a bow-wave effect, to create the impression of authority and security. The Taliban aren't stupid...
...Israelis to freeze settlements is effective only if it is accompanied by the credible threat of a reduction in aid. "You can't be seen pushing countries around - demanding [that] Israel freeze settlements, demanding that Hamid Karzai reform his government - and not get results," says Leslie H. Gelb, author of Power Rules. "The leaders of these countries are tough, successful politicians, and they'll begin to take you less seriously." (See pictures of the 1979 revolution in Iran...
Peter Bergen and Leslie H. Gelb face off over the Obama Administration's choices in Afghanistan (see pages...