U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates sits with U.S. Army cadets before U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, December 1, 2009. Obama is announcing a plan to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan over six months in a bid to beat back the Taliban and bring a quicker end to a costly and unpopular eight- year war. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES POLITICS CONFLICT)