Afghanistan And Iraq

The Obama administration on Thursday released a sweeping statement of its national security goals, emphasizing a strong counter-terrorism effort but also citing the importance of government action on issues such as climate change and the economy. The 52-page manifesto, called the National Security Strategy, aims to draw contrasts with President Bush's 2006 version, which focused heavily on the anti-terrorism fight, and began by saying, "America is at war." The Obama plan says that the government campaign against radical extremism is "only one element of our strategic environment and cannot define America's engagement with the world."

As it rapidly expands its drone program over Afghanistan, the U.S. military is turning to the technology that powers NFL broadcasts, ESPN and TV news to catalog a flood of information coming from the cameras of its fleet of unmanned aircraft. U.S. military archives hold 24 million minutes of video collected by Predators and other remotely piloted aircraft that have become an essential tool for commanders. But the library is largely useless because analysts often have no way of knowing exactly what they have, or any way to search for information that is particularly valuable.

When Gen. David H. Petraeus took command of the war in Iraq at its low point in 2007, he sent a blunt e-mail to a fellow officer about the task ahead: "We're going to get one last shot at this and we need to make it really count," he wrote. "It's not business as usual." Petraeus could make the same statement today after being chosen by President Obama to take over in Afghanistan. Once again he is being put in charge of a faltering war by a president desperate to see quick results.

The leaking of a trove of U.S. documents has put the Obama administration on the defensive about its Afghanistan policy and may deepen doubts in Congress about prospects for turning around the faltering war effort. The documents made public late Sunday by the website WikiLeaks included dozens of new disclosures about Pakistani intelligence agencies' assistance to Afghan insurgents, corruption in the U.S.-backed Kabul government, and incidences of U.S. troops accidentally killing civilians.

The winners are ... Re " 'Hurt' locks it up," March 8 The sycophantic exalting of the various actor nominees at the Oscars during their joint introduction was enough to give one diabetes. On the other hand, it was refreshing to hear Kathryn Bigelow, in her Oscar acceptance speech, thanking the U.S. service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan, in contrast to James Cameron's demeaning of the U.S. military in his movie "Avatar." John F. Haggerty Woodland Hills The people of the world voted and made "Avatar" the most popular movie in history.

One OF modern warfare's founding fathers, the 19th century Prussian field marshal Helmuth von Moltke, was of the opinion that no military plan, however well and carefully conceived, could survive its first contact with the enemy. The same might be said about preconceptions concerning what makes a good wartime president. America's two greatest wartime leaders, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, were not just temperamental but also managerial opposites. Lincoln -- solitary, brooding, agonized -- was what we'd call today a micromanager, involved in everything from the development of new weapons to individual generals' tactical planning.

Vietnam veteran John Otte did his best to forget the war. He got married, raised two sons and made a career working at credit unions. But as Otte neared retirement, memories of combat flooded back. Starting in 2005, he filed a series of claims with Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, contending that many of his health problems stemmed from the war. The VA agreed, and now the 65-year-old with two Purple Hearts receives $1,900 a month for post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes - and for having shrapnel scars on his arms.

St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers, fruit dealers, epileptics and surfers, is a figure whose image remains a staple of Catholic gift shops and is still a comforting talisman to many a believer. For example, Vietnamese immigrant and Catholic convert Tuyet Romero, a 53-year-old secretary and bookkeeper at St. Christopher Catholic Church in West Covina, has kept a St. Christopher medal on her key chain for 20 years. "I didn't know about St. Christopher in Vietnam. I was a Buddhist.

In the summer of 2003, an Air Force pilot named Greg Harbin was doing desk duty at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. Day in and day out, Harbin sat in front of five computer screens, scanning photographs and video sent by unmanned planes flying 1,200 miles away, over Iraq and Afghanistan. His job was to take that information, along with reports from ground troops, and identify fresh targets -- Taliban fighters or Iraqi insurgents. But one thing puzzled him.

With the Pentagon running short of cash, Congress on Thursday sent to President Bush a $416-billion defense spending bill that would provide $25 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next fiscal year or even in the final months of this one. The $25 billion is not expected to come close to meeting the demand for fiscal 2005. The measure also includes $500 million to help fight Western wildfires.