President Obama will make a major announcement tonight from West Point Military Academy, outlining his plans to raise troop levels in Afghanistan. The New York Times reports the president has already issued orders to send thousands of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, raising the number of U.S. forces there to around 100,000.  Tonight's speech is expected to include a timeline for U.S. involvement in the region and give the nation some idea of how he plans to pay for the war. The Takeaway talks to three veterans of the war in Afghanistan and asks what they want to hear from the Commander in Chief.

Maj. Adrianne Dicker Kadzinski is in the Army reserve. She served in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003, and she currently sits on the advisory board of the Rebuilding Afghanistan Foundation, which focuses on education there. Ret. Sgt. Steve Husong served in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003. He's the host and producer of a television program that is currently in the works called "Redeployed." And National Guard Spec. Marco Reininger, who served in Afghanistan in 2008, is a spokesman for the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Maj. Kadzinski says the U.S. owes Afghanistan a substantial, long-term presence focusing on rebuilding economic and social structures. Ret. Sgt. Husong wants President Obama to trust the generals who advise him, relying on their military experience to make up for his lack. And Spec. Reininger says whatever the President's decision, the country must be prepared to take care of returning veterans.

• Business Takeout: The Federal Reserve says it will get out of the mortgage business. New York Times reporter Louise Story explains the Fed's plan, and how it may impact the stock market.
  
• Sports Takeout: Sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin recaps Monday Night Football, looks at the still-undefeated New Orleans Saints and describes famously dour Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
• Listener Takeout: Listeners respond to our story about finding conflict-free diamonds.

Yesterday, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office delivered their report detailing the financial impact the Senate's proposed health care reform bill will have on the average American. The long-anticipated report finds the bill will cost less than its detractors anticipated, but it also says the bill won't bring the dramatic cost drops supporters hope for.

We're joined by Takeaway listener Melanie, who has some concerns about health care reform, and our own Todd Zwillich, who explains the ins and outs of the report.

A judge blocked Latin America's first gay marriage at the last minute today in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The last-minute reversal highlights the divided opinion on gay marriage in predominantly Catholic Latin American culture. We get the latest from BBC’s South America correspondent, Candace Piette, live from Buenos Aires.

With unemployment at 10.2 percent, the string of layoffs around the country seems to be getting longer and longer every month. As companies restructure to survive the down economy, however, a flurry of pink slips in one department sometimes signals hiring in another. Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner and career consultant Pamela Watson talk about when layoffs mean potential opportunities, as companies then hire in areas of potential future growth.

President Obama will announce his strategy for Afghanistan in a speech at West Point tonight. He is expected to send roughly 30,000 more troops to the war and discuss the criteria for an exit strategy. Besides America and Afghanistan itself, the country that stands to be most directly affected by these next moves is Pakistan. Hassan Abbas, Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society and senior advisor at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, joins us to discuss our ongoing strategy.

• Washington Takeout: Todd Zwillich tells us that for the first time in history, a disclosure on the amount of money that Congress spends on itself is available online. Todd took a look at some of the nearly 3,400 pages that cover the quarter from July 1 to Sept. 30, 2009.
  
• Business Takeout: Louise Story, finance reporter for our partner The New York Times, takes a look at Congress' stalled efforts to pass financial regulatory reform.
  
• Sports Takeout: Takeaway Sports Contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin discusses the latest developments in golf champion Tiger Woods' strange and eventful Thanksgiving weekend.

The Seattle Police department is reporting that they have shot and killed Maurice Clemmons, the man accused of killing four police officers over the weekend. Past convictions for robberies, burglaries and thefts plaster his rap sheet. We speak to KUOW reporter Patricia Murphy, who has been following this story out in Seattle, and New York Times reporter Kate Zernike, who is writing the story for today's Times.

Listen to our earlier interview with KUOW reporter Liz Jones:

Florida taxpayers spend roughly $45 million a year subsidizing health care for government employees. More than 27,000 government officials – including Governor Charlie Crist (R-Fla.), now a candidate for U.S. Senate – pay no premiums at all. Once a simple benefit of public service, these perks are now being called into question amid the nationwide debate over healthcare reform. For more on the story, we speak with Beth Reinhard, political writer for the Miami Herald.

Kristen Lombardi, investigative reporter for the Center for Public Integrity, just completed an in-depth investigation on how college campuses have created judiciary systems to handle rape cases, and how those systems sometimes fail. She talks with us about what she learned while investigating her piece, and shares a first-person account from one woman who feels her rape case was mishandled by her college: former University of Virginia student Kathryn Russell.

We also hear a response from the University of Virginia about what's happened in the aftermath of Russell's case.

To read Lombardi's entire 3-part series on collegiate rape judiciary systems, visit the Center for Public Integrity.

We continue our conversation with veterans about what they expect to hear from President Obama in tonight's speech on Afghanistan, and how they think the strategy will play out on the ground. We speak with Jack Jacobs, retired Army colonel and professor of politics at West Point; National Guard Spc. Marco Reininger, who served in Afghanistan in 2008; and retired Army Sgt. Genevieve Chase, founder of American Women Veterans, who served in Afghanistan in 2006.