War

A U.S. military convoy sliced through the flat Iraqi desert before first light, carrying the last troops safely into Kuwait and ending America's costly and divisive war in a troubled land. When relieved soldiers got out on the other side Sunday, shouts of "Going home!" and "It's over!" mingled with bear hugs and high-fives. One soldier hollered, "I'm going to Disneyland!" Another, "A sweet, sweet Christmas. " The final vehicle passed a fortified Kuwaiti border police post eight years, eight months and 28 days after U.S. forces poured across the same frontier, 150,000 strong, sweating inside bulky chemical and biological protective suits, but convinced of a swift and certain victory.

There's a nip in the air. Couples bundle against the cold. It must be time for the "war on Christmas. " Like the changing of the weather, the war on Christmas arrives each year a few weeks before Dec. 25. Conservatives take to the airwaves to denounce schools, parks and businesses that have replaced Christmas rituals and decorations with generic "holiday" ones. And this year's battle features a familiar face: former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In a new book, "Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas," Palin rages at "angry atheists" who are allegedly threatening it. YEAR IN REVIEW: Ted Rall's five best cartoons of 2013 "Amidst the fragility of this politically correct era it is imperative that we stand up for our beliefs," Palin writes, in a press release for the book.

'Declaration of War' MPAA rating: Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes; French with English subtitles Playing: At Nuart Theater, West Los Angeles

Re "Afghans recall deaths by drone," Dec. 1 The United States has not won a war in Asia since World War II. The difference between World War II and Afghanistan is asymmetrical warfare. In World War II, Japan had capabilities and equipment similar to the U.S. Its soldiers wore uniforms. That war was symmetrical, and we won. In Vietnam, the enemy often dressed like everybody else and fought mostly guerrilla style. That is asymmetrical warfare. In Iraq, President George W. Bush sought to overthrow a dictator, thinking Iraqis would welcome U.S. intervention.

Re "Waiting for the last plane out," Opinion, Dec. 23 I had tears in my eyes reading David Freed's Op-Ed article about not seeing his son, who is probably stationed in Afghanistan, this Christmas. I share his feelings of longing to be with a son at familiar family outings. My son flies air cover on six-hour missions over Afghanistan from the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower. From 20,000 feet he looks down on a land that seems so desolate and bleak. He is grateful not to be stationed on the ground, but he's perfectly willing to fly close to the ground to protect his comrades in arms.

'Women, War & Peace' Where: KOCE When: 10 p.m. Tuesday Rating: TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14)

'Frontline: The Vaccine War' Where: KCET When: 9 p.m. Tuesday Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)

The War on Moms On Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation Sharon Lerner Wiley: 216 pp., $25.95

'American Experience: War of the Worlds' When: 9 p.m. Tuesday Channel: KOCE

President Obama declared an end to the U.S. combat role in Iraq this week, but his speech didn't include the word victory. One reason is that the U.S. combat role isn't entirely over; 50,000 American troops are still in Iraq, and some of them probably will be drawn into battle again. Another is that Iraq isn't at peace and doesn't have a stable government yet. As a political matter, the president would rather have been talking about the economy — the crisis on the minds of most Americans — instead of an almost-forgotten war that has taken too many lives, too much money and too much time.

WASHINGTON - Harold Rhode still recalls the euphoria he felt a decade ago after finding thousands of dripping, moldy artifacts of Iraq's once-vibrant Jewish community in the flooded basement of Saddam Hussein's intelligence service headquarters in Baghdad. "How do you describe it? An enormous elation, a deep connection, but also shock: Why would this be here?" says the 64-year-old former Pentagon official, an Orthodox Jew who discovered the purloined archive in the bombed-out building days after he arrived in the Iraqi capital with the U.S. invasion force in the spring of 2003.

A downtown Los Angeles pooch can enjoy a made-to-order meal at a local pet boutique, tag along for happy hour or spend an afternoon socializing at the cathedral, but what happens when nature calls? Fido may have helped attract droves of new residents to a burgeoning downtown, but sharing the concrete city with their human counterparts is getting messy. The latest attempt at stemming what some call "the pee situation" consists of three small patches of artificial turf in designated doggie areas.

WASHINGTON - As they prepare for battle over the new deal to limit Iran's nuclear program, the accord's supporters and foes are calibrating strategies based on their reading of Americans' conflicted views about the Islamic Republic. American war-weariness forms a big part of the Obama administration's campaign for the accord, a preliminary agreement to curb Iran's disputed nuclear program. Administration officials have said that without a diplomatic deal, the country would be on a "march to war. " For now, the administration appears to have the upper hand.

BEIRUT - Long-delayed peace talks designed to end the bloody conflict in Syria will begin Jan. 22 in Geneva, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Monday, amid growing international alarm about the rise of Islamic militant rebels inside the country. The so-called Geneva 2 negotiations - sponsored by the United States and Russia - would mark the first meeting between the Syrian government and opposition representatives aimed at ending the 32-month-old civil war. Despite Monday's announcement, some observers expressed skepticism that the talks would take place.

Analogies between Secretary of State John F. Kerry's negotiations with Iran and the negotiations the Reagan administration undertook with the Soviet Union have become commonplace. But is Hassan Rouhani really another Mikhail Gorbachev - another leader of a dictatorship with whom the U.S. can (and should) "do business," in Margaret Thatcher's phrase? Recall that Gorbachev was not just interested in achieving arms reductions with the U.S. He was intent on a thorough reform of Russian society.

SACRAMENTO - He has millions of dollars in his campaign account, solid approval ratings and a small number of potential challengers who are virtually unknown, but Gov. Jerry Brown still won't say whether he'll run for reelection next year. As recently as Tuesday, the governor deflected the question at a public event. "I am aware that in November of next year there will be an election," he said, "and I will make some decisions regarding that. " Two days later, he joined deep-pocketed Hollywood luminaries in a campaign fundraiser at the Bel-Air home of Disney studio chief Alan Horn.

Re "The killing drones on," Opinion, Jan. 10 As Michael Kinsley points out, there are thousands and thousands of pages of legal analysis, treaties, definitions and conventions regarding the rules of war. All of these are internationally accepted. But now, our government is attempting to justify its use of drones in other nations by defining the legal justification for doing so after the fact. That would be akin to an accused murderer drafting laws on homicide after committing the act. We may have the need to use drones, but that need does not give us the right under current international laws and treaties to do so. Jean-Claude Demirdjian Los Angeles ALSO: Letters: Shape up or else Letters: Act now to save the planet Letters: 'Silicon Beach' has enough money

BEIJING - An 85-year-old tourist from Palo Alto was buckled in his seat last month on a plane preparing to depart Pyongyang, North Korea, when a flight attendant pointed him out to two men in uniform. They promptly escorted him off the plane. The man, Merrill Newman, a retired financial executive and Korean War veteran, has not been heard from since. Newman was seized Oct. 26 at Pyongyang's Sunan International Airport, but the case was initially kept secret at the urging of his family.

BEIRUT - A pair of suicide bombings at Iran's embassy that killed an Iranian diplomat and at least 24 other people underscored how the violence in Syria has traversed borders and fanned sectarian tensions across the Middle East. Lebanon has long been a secondary theater of the Syrian conflict, but Tuesday's twin blasts in Beirut were a blow aimed directly at Iran, one of the major foreign backers of the embattled government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Beginning with peaceful protests during the "Arab Spring" that challenged Assad's autocratic rule, Syria's strife has devolved over the last 32 months into a regional proxy war stoked by sectarian malice.