North America: United States of America
U.S. general says military still aims to catch bin Laden alive
Xinhua
People's Daily
Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, said Wednesday the military still aims to catch al-Qaeda terror network leader Osama bin Laden alive.
McChrystal, briefing reporters in Washington via teleconference from Afghanistan, said if bin Laden enters Afghanistan, the military would certainly try to "capture him alive."
The comment contradicts Attorney General Eric Holder's Tuesday comment that bin Laden will never appear in a U.S. courtroom because he won't be brought in alive.
"The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom," Holder said during a House appropriations subcommittee hearing.
"He will be killed by us or he will be killed by his own people, so he's not captured by us," said Holder.
McChrystal also said Wednesday that efforts to retake Taliban strong-hold Kandahar is already underway.
NATO and Afghan armies have recently launched a major operation in Afghanistan's Helmand province, adjacent to Kandahar. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday the offensive is the beginning of a larger campaign which will "unfold over the next 18 months."
Gates says U.S. troops to play lead role in Afghanistan for another 2-4 years
Xinhua
People's Daily
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday U.S. troops are expected to play a lead role in Afghanistan for another two to four years, as Afghan security forces gradually take over.
Appearing in NBC's "Meet the Press," Gates mentioned Afghan President Hamid Karzai's statement in his inaugural speech that Afghan security forces are to take over control in three years of important areas, and all of the country in five years. Click here to rad more
Obama: US Combat Troops Out of Iraq By Next August
White House
U.S. President Barack Obama says the United States still plans to remove all its combat troops from Iraq by next August. Mr. Obama met Tuesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
After the meeting, President Obama told reporters he assured the Iraqi leader that the United States will stand by its commitment to withdraw its troops on schedule.
"I reemphasized my commitment to Prime Minister Maliki that we will have our combat troops out of Iraq by August of next year, and all of our troops out of Iraq by 2011," Mr. Obama said. Click here to read more
Gates to Meet New Japanese Leaders, Talk Security With South Koreans
VOA NEWS
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates heads to Japan and South Korea this week with North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and the new Japanese government's defense policies high on the agenda. The visits come just a couple of weeks before President Barack Obama will visit the two countries.
Defense officials say the secretary's first stop, Tokyo, will be partly an opportunity to get to know Japan's new leaders. But Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says serious issues will be discussed related to the new government's decision to end a refueling mission for alliance ships supplying the international effort in Afghanistan and its concerns about plans to relocate some U.S. forces in Japan. Click here to read more
Afghanistan Important to War on Terrorism
By Dana Blanton
FOXNews.com
A sizable majority of Americans support the U.S. military action in Afghanistan, and an even larger number think the action there is important to preventing terrorist attacks against the United States, according to a FOX News poll released Thursday.
Six in 10 Americans think the U.S. military action in Afghanistan is "extremely" (25 percent) or "very" (35 percent) important to stopping terrorist attacks against the U.S., and another 27 percent think it is "somewhat" important.
Few Americans -- 9 percent -- think the military action in Afghanistan is not at all important to fighting terrorism at home.
Overall, 64 percent of Americans support the U.S. military action in Afghanistan and 27 percent oppose it. There is a huge partisan gap, as 80 percent of Republicans support the action compared to 49 percent of Democrats. Among independents, 66 percent support it. Click here to read more
