Homage to Brent Scowcroft

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This picture of Philadelphia business man Richard Vague and former National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft was taken today on the Acela AMTRAK train up to New York.

Guantanamo As Prison and Courtroom: Is a White House Policy Unraveling or Coming Together?

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Last August, President Obama’s national security advisers, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, met in the White House situation room to decide whether and how to go forward with trials for some Guantanamo prisoners.

Broadmoor Reflections: What Gay Acceptance Feels Like Over Time

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I’m sure if I was born into an African-American family in 1962 in Salina, Kansas — where I was actually born, my personal sense of civil rights advancements would feel very different than I feel looking at the question through a gay portal.

Matlock, Grove, Walt, Gard, Others Sign UN Resolution Letter on Israeli Settlements

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Since posting the letter that a variety of policy practitioners and commentators, former US government officials and academics sent to President Obama asking his support of a UN resolution that is consistent with his administration’s stated views on the illegality of Israeli settlements in Occupied Territory, others have signed on. The full list is here….

JFK Inauguration 50 Years Ago Close and Clear

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(thanks to LIFE.com for permission to reprint this picture; click image for larger version) I am really enjoying LIFE.com‘s more frequent releases of never before published nor seen photos of great events and people, and I’m grateful for the permissions from LIFE to share these photos with readers of The Washington Note.