Free Republic

Gen. David Petraeus will be given the “flexibility” to submit recommendations on the Afghanistan strategy once he arrives there, but he is on board with the overall approach, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today. “The president has established the strategy, but from my perspective, General Petraeus will have the flexibility to look at the campaign plan and the approach and – and all manner of things when he gets to Afghanistan, assuming Senate confirmation,” Gates said at the Pentagon Thursday. Any new commander can make changes as he sees fit, he said. “And so my expectation is, certainly, that...

The Senate Armed Services Committee postponed its Monday briefing on the deadly Fort Hood massacre at the request of the White House -- despite calls from some lawmakers to press forward with a congressional investigation into the shooting rampage that killed 13 and wounded 29. The Senate Armed Services Committee postponed its Monday briefing on the deadly Fort Hood massacre at the behest of the White House, despite calls from some lawmakers to press forward with a congressional investigation into the shooting rampage that killed 13 and wounded 29. An aide to committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., told Fox...

In a blow to Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon has decided to purchase to end funding of the F-22 fighter jet. The decision by Defense Secretary Robert Gates will rouse widespread opposition in Congress and is likely to bog down the 2010 budget approval process, with F-22 supporters maneuvering to secure more money. The Pentagon will fund four of the radar-evading stealth fighters in the upcoming 2009 emergency war-spending request, but those additional aircraft will do little to keep the production line in Marietta, Ga., open beyond 2011. Lockheed Martin is the main contractor for the F-22, each of which costs...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates declined to say Sunday whether the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should apologize for his remark that homosexual acts were immoral or whether it was a slur on gay members of the armed forces. Marine Gen. Peter Pace made the remark last Monday in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. The next day, following criticism from several lawmakers and gay-rights groups, Pace said that he regretted having stated a personal opinion but did not apologize. "I think General Pace has made pretty clear that he wished he had avoided his personal opinion," Gates said...