Robert Gates is Strikingly Candid with "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War"

From the former secretary of defense, a strikingly candid, vividly written account of his experience serving Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Before Robert M. Gates received a call from the White House in 2006, he thought he’d left Washington politics behind: after working for six presidents in both the CIA and the National Security Council, he was happy in his role as president of Texas A&M University. But when he was asked to help a nation mired in two wars and to aid the troops doing the fighting, he answered what he felt was the call of duty. Now, in this unsparing memoir, meticulously fair in its assessments, he takes us behind the scenes of his nearly five years as a secretary at war: the battles with Congress, the two presidents he served, the military itself, and the vast Pentagon bureaucracy; his efforts to help Bush turn the tide in Iraq; his role as a guiding, and often dissenting, voice for Obama; the ardent devotion to and love for American soldiers—his “heroes”—he developed on the job.

In relating his personal journey as secretary, Gates draws us into the innermost sanctums of government and military power during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, illuminating iconic figures, vital negotiations, and critical situations in revealing, intimate detail. Offering unvarnished appraisals of Dick Cheney, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Presidents Bush and Obama among other key players, Gates exposes the full spectrum of behind-closed-doors politicking within both the Bush and Obama administrations.

He discusses the great controversies of his tenure—surges in both Iraq and Afghanistan,  how to deal with Iran and Syria, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” Guantánamo Bay, WikiLeaks—as they played out behind the television cameras. He brings to life the Situation Room during the Bin Laden raid. And, searingly, he shows how congressional debate and action or inaction on everything from equipment budgeting to troop withdrawals was often motivated, to his increasing despair and anger, more by party politics and media impact than by members’ desires to protect our soldiers and ensure their success.

However embroiled he became in the trials of Washington, Gates makes clear that his heart was always in the most important theater of his tenure as secretary: the front lines. We journey with him to both war zones as he meets with active-duty troops and their commanders, awed by their courage, and also witness him greet coffin after flag-draped coffin returned to U.S. soil, heartbreakingly aware that he signed every deployment order. In frank and poignant vignettes, Gates conveys the human cost of war, and his admiration for those brave enough to undertake it when necessary.

Duty tells a powerful and deeply personal story that allows us an unprecedented look at two administrations and the wars that have defined them.

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Christmas Eve Homicide Suspect Captured

Maurice Jamar Bentley, a Savannah man wanted for Murder and Aggravated Assault by the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department (SCMPD), was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Savannah Office of the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force and members of the SCMPD Precinct 3 Tactical Investigations Unit.

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Over 100 Retired New York Cops, Firefighters, and Correction Officers Charged in Massive 9/11 Fraud, Indictment Says

More than 100 retired New York City cops, firefighters and correction officers were charged today with falsely claiming to be suffering from depression and anxiety as a result of the 9/11 terror attacks, New York prosecutors said today.

The alleged scam won awards up to $500,000 for the uniformed personnel and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, according to the indictment.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said the suspects "cynically manufactured claims of mental illness as a result of Sept 11th... dishonoring the first responders."

Police Commissioner William Bratton said, "The retired members of the NYP indicted in this case have disgraced all first responders who perished during the search and rescue efforts on Sept. 11, 2001."

The prosecution backed up its case with recorded phone calls of the suspects being coached on how to behave in front of a medical board and photos of the suspects doing vigorous activity like jet skiing, doing mixed martial arts, and going on cruises after convincing doctors they were unable to leave their homes.

Today's arrests cap a two year investigation, aided by federal investigators, the city's Department of Investigation and the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau.

The alleged fraud cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in improper Social Security benefits.

The indictment charges four men with masterminding the alleged fraud, including attorney Raymond Lavellee, 81, Thomas Hale, 89, Joseph Esposito, 70, and John Minerva, 59.

Hale is president of a firm that determines eligibility for Social Security disability. Esposito is a former NYPD employee and Minerva is an ex-cop who is currently a disability consultant for the Detectives Endowment Association.

None of the accused actually suffered from debilitating stress, officials claim. Many were caught working after retirement, a violation of disability benefits. And some of the retired officers retained their gun permits. Retired officers cannot possess guns if they are being treated for stress.

Court papers included what prosecutors said were recorded phone calls in which Esposito "coached" the officers how to dress and behave and now to muff questions to show that lacked concentration.

"They're liable to say... spell the word 'world,' so you go 'W-R-L-D.' Then they're gonnna say 'Spell it backwards.' You think about it, and you can't spell it backwards," Esposito was recorded saying.

He allegedly told officers claiming that their debilitating anxieties stemmed from the 9/11 attacks to tell examiners they were "afraid of planes and entering large buildings."

The 9/11 attacks took a heavy toll on the city's cops, called "New York's Finest," and firefighters, dubbed "New York's Bravest." The casualty count from the terror attacks included 23 police officers and 343 firefighters.

Most of the arrests in the fraud sweep took place in the city, with others being busted in Florida and elsewhere in New York State.

It was the second 9/11 scam to be revealed this week. On Monday, two New Jersey men pleaded guilty to raising and keeping $50,000 for a Sept. 11 charity that was supposed to help families who lost loved one in the catastrophe. Thomas Scalgione and Mark Niemczyk never gave any of the more than $50,000 in proceeds to the victims' families or to charities as promised, they told the court.

Thanks to Aaron Katersky.

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2013 Saw the Fewest Police Deaths Involving Firearms since 1887

The number of law-enforcement officers killed by firearms in 2013 fell to levels not seen since the 19th century, according to a report released last week.

The annual report from the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund also found that deaths in the line of duty generally fell by 8 percent and were the fewest since 1959.

According to the report, 111 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in the line of duty nationwide this past year, compared to 121 in 2012.

Forty-six officers were killed in traffic related accidents, and 33 were killed by firearms.

The number of firearms deaths fell 33 percent in 2013 and was the lowest since 1887.

The report credits an increased culture of safety among law-enforcement agencies, including increased use of bulletproof vests, that followed a spike in law-enforcement deaths in 2011.

Since 2011, officer fatalities across all categories have decreased by 34 percent, and firearms deaths have dropped by 54 percent.

Fourteen officers died from heart attacks that occurred while performing their duties.

The report found that Texas and California had the highest number of fatalities, with 13 and 10, respectively.

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Mark Lepage Pleads Guilty to Robbing Eastern Bank

An East Boston man pleaded guilty to armed robbery of a bank in Peabody.

Mark Lepage, 51, pleaded guilty to armed bank robbery and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Sentencing is scheduled for April 3, 2014.

On April 4, 2011, at approximately 1:14 p.m., Lepage walked into the Eastern Bank in Peabody brandishing a handgun, wearing sunglasses and a grey hooded sweatshirt pulled up over his head. He grabbed a male customer, held the gun to the customer’s neck, and demanded money. After three bank tellers handed him $21,709, he fled the bank. He was arrested in East Boston two days later and indicted that month.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Peabody Police Chief Robert St. Pierre made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by David G. Tobin and Carlos A. López of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.

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