in december of 2007, there was a famous landslide that occurred on telegraph hill that closed helmand's restaurant on broadway. fortunately, the 16 year-old restaurant relocated to russian hill, where it has been serving residents and visitors from around the world with amazing cuisine. i am sorry they are not here but encourage everyone to go visit. with that, i would like to recognize cavan wesley from the golden gate restaurant association and thank you for helping to both organize today's event and representing the restaurant industry. i would like to give you a moment to say a few words. >> face you very much to all of you for honoring the restaurant community today. i think he saw men, women, and families that are hard working. three of the restaurants honored had to leave to go manage their restaurants. that gives you an idea of what life in the restaurant business is like. we have heard about ethnic restaurants. we heard about restaurants that had children's and night. we heard about more and less formal restaurants, the great diversity of the community. we thank you for recogni

outlandish and totally incredible the very very many people in southern afghanistan in kandahar and helmand where the insurgency. is von and one of the taliban are stronger these people repeatedly so more than two years said to me that they really matter britain and the international community are actually supporting the insurgency down to the number of times the people at home in the states need the person is a country in helmand is a privilege why can't they defeat the insurgency and they say the same things about america they find it very difficult to comprehend a country seemingly as powerful as the united states and a coalition with many members of nato and they did international security assistance force has failed to win the men's him all the time about insurgency movement military might of the western superpower is nonetheless that insurgents with kalashnikovs. these improvised explosive devices are still managing to check the progress. military campaign that general is there anybody really that this people do have trust in these days because you know and i hate for the taliban is i

by then they will have been there for 14 years and in helmand province for 9 -- three years longer thand war two. for those who have served, for those who bear the scars, and for those who will never come home, this country has gratitude beyond words. [applause] this government has set a new direction right across our foreign policy. our principles are simple. don't neglect important relationships. already we are restoring ties with india, with allies in the gulf, with our friends in the commonwealth. don't make commitments without the right resources. today we're geared up to fight old wars. we have armored brigades ready to repel soviet tanks across the german plain. but we struggled to provide enough helicopters for our soldiers in afghanistan, for the real war we are really fighting. since becoming prime minister nothing has shocked me more than the complete mess of the defense budget we inherited. so our defense review will match our commitments with the resources we've got. this will mean some big changes. but i promise you this, i will take no risks with britain's security. [appl

a combat outpost in pakika province and at least 10 insurgents died during an attack in southern helmand province. meanwhile back here in the u.s., on the national mall today, cable television comedians jon stuart and stephen colbert joined forces to host a rally. there was fun, satire, and music with a message. here's wyatt andrews. >> an incredible gathering here on the mall today. >> reporter: it was much larger than the 60,000 people they expected. the crowd itself was part youth festival, part halloween party, and brought an attitude that was all tongue in cheek. >> are you ready to restore sanity! ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: but this rally to restore sanity and/or fear was all about making a point. douglas and linda paul, mild-mannered iowans came to protest the name calling in media and politics. >> there's so much false outrage, phony outrage, and it's-- it doesn't need to be there. >> reporter: that was the sanity side. kathleen ford came from north carolina with her version of fear. your fear is bed bugs or the minions of al qaeda. >> they're terrorists. >> if you're h

develop says sergeant first class lance herman vogler was shot and killed friday in a gunbattle in helmand province. he's a native of frederick and joined the army in 2001 survived by his wife melissa and two children. a final fare well to anavy seal killed in afghanistan. funeral for lieutenant brendan looney was held at the national shrine. he was a standout football player in the late '90s. lieutenant looney was buried at arlington national cemetery. >>> being alert and aware of your surroundings is the message from the state department to u.s. travelers overseas. officials issued the warning after fears of al qaeda and affiliated organizations may be planning terror attacks in europe surfaced. fox 5's will thomas in the newsroom with this tonight. >> there are news that there are possible targets in areas across europe and the attacks are to be in public areas using assault weapons like the attacks we saw in mumbai, but no matter what you hear or read u.s. officials want you to know this. concrete intelligence has emerged. europe is on edge following the release of a travel alert by th

for you first to afghanistan where nato officials say an air strike has killed fifteen militants in helmandprovince locals say several civilians were also killed in the attack which they say hit a mosque now denies hitting the place of worship and causing civilian casualties. and staying in afghanistan president karzai has confirmed his office receives around the house one million euro. as for me ron twice a year but insists it's above board his comments come in response to a u.s. media report accusing iran of giving cash to ask an official to promote arraignment interest in the country's cause i says several states gives it ministration money in the form of aid including the us. six people have been killed and more than a dozen injured by a bomb in eastern pakistan the explosion went off at a super shrine where more than two hundred people were gathered two young men place the bomb on a motorcade at one of the main gates no one has claimed responsibility and earlier this month two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a super shrine in karachi killing nine worshippers. francis finance mini

law enforcement and special forces on the ground in southern afghanistan especially in kandahar and helmand province because despite the drop in the autumn poppy yield their financial returns and profits for the criminals and insurgents has increased dramatically and the only way to break this vicious circle ease to admit that first and foremost the u.s. special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan falsely claimed that you cannot touch afghan poppy farmers because you would drive them into the hands of the taliban and they are eligible of the poorest farmers all or close the contrie this document in equivocal it states that he is totally wrong and in fact there is undeniable axis of evil between the insurgents criminals and off him poppy farmers and the op him poppy farmers themselves are the wealthiest among all the farmers in the country so the only way to tackle this challenge that undermines the stability and security in afghanistan and beyond is to jumpstart the robust counter-narcotics policy we have the main focus on aerial eradication off off him poppy fields in southern afghanistan. s

stories dominating world news nato air strikes have reported killed fifteen militants in afghanistan's helmandprovince locals claim several civilians also died in the attack which they say hit a mosque nato denies hitting the place of worship and causing civilian casualties. thank you know afghanistan president karzai has confirmed his office receives around half a new neural rose from the wrong twice a year but insists it's above board his comments come in response to a u.s. media report accusing tehran of giving crafts to an afghan official official to promote iranian interests in the country cars i said several states give his administration money in the form of aid including the u.s. . six people have been killed and more than a dozen injured by a bomb in eastern pakistan the blast went off at a soofi shrine where more than two hundred people had gathered two young men placed the explosive on a motorcycle at one of the main gates no one has claimed responsibility earlier this month two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a super shrine in karachi killing nine worshippers. and france's fi

ú% army ranger is killed in sergeant first-class lance vogler killed friday in heavy fighting in helmand 12th deployment. he served four complete times in iraq. seven compleee times in afghanistan. he was over there a 12th time. he halee from frederick and survived by wife and two children. >> the u.s. supreme court began its sessson today. in onn of the most controversial cases, it will hear, is one from maryland. the court has to decide if the westboro baptist church wentttoo far by staging anti-gay protests, at a marine's funeral the father of the fallen marine the harsh slogans tte church is known for displaying at military funerals. he sued and won. but the church won on appeel. tte court will hear the case on wednesday. >> that is a clash of the most fundamental rights we have as americans. it is our first amendment right to speak out on issues, no matter how offensive and repulsiie the speech is. >> new justice eeana gay begin will recuse herself from half of the ccses because she was involved in them when she wws solicittr general. >> education is a hot button issue this year in

the 21 year-old died from injuries he suffered when insurgents attacked his unit in the helmand province last friday. the frederick native leaves behind a wife and two children. >> europe remains unguarded tonight after the u.s. issued an alert for citizens traveling in europe. there are new details surrounding the tariff threat. we have the latest from london. >> a u.s. predator drone strike has killed a number of chairman nationals. there is no confirmation between all lank of that bombing and the new terror alert in europe, but intelligence indicated that a number of european nationals had traveled to pakistan to receive training. intercepted phone conversations suggest that some of those europeans have traveled back home to stage attacks on european cities. much of the information leading to the terror alert was gathered during the interrogation of a prisoner in afghanistan. >> the alert that was issued by the state department is based on information about potential threats in europe. we want travelers to be alert and aware. the particular threat information deals with europe, and is

the pentagon said the sergeant first class was shot and killed on friday in a gun battle in the helmand province. he's surprised by his wife melissa and two children. >>> another big story we're following this morning, a mysterious shooting is under investigation. a man was found shot in the parking lot of a virginia metro stop. it happened last night at the huntington metro. sarah simmons joins us live in alexandria. sarah, there are questions about what exactly happened there? >> reporter: there certainly are and still are this morning. metro police found a man shot inside a car here at the hunting ton metro stop. fairfax county police are continuing this investigation now. they say there is a shooting they are looking into and we don't have a lot to go on from here. we can tell you it occurred about 10:30 last night. fairfax county police responded because they got a call from a woman saying she was supposed to meet a family member here and when she got here, she couldn't find him. police arrived and couldn't find him and when police found him, he had a gunshot wound. he was taken to

and it's kandahar and helmand province in the south.you accept conditions will affect the draw down, not logical we draw down first. >> shannon: other military leaders said the same. general petraeus talked about we're not going to disappear from afghanistan in 2011, but that has been the goal. what do you make of the comments? >> that has been the goal. one thing you have seen in the meantime is the taliban stepping in there. with prop gan the and say -- propaganda. it goes to the problem with the deadline, but as the president said and general said here it's not likely the u.s. in 2011 will shut out lights and leave afghanistan. >> shannon: so much of this is dependent on how the police force there, the security forces are trained, how the government comes together. we know there has been chaos in some of those factions this. do you see it coming together? >> general conway said that the most important moment in this counterinsurgency will come if and when the taliban and people we will fighting recognize they will never win the war.

so i was in helmand last year with anderson cooper, and, you know, there were, you know, 10,000 marines but three american, you know, state department officials in this whole massive province. and so, you know, if you're -- you know, even if you're in these embassies and you speak these languages it's hard to -- you know, there's a lot of -- there's a lot of rules about what you can and can't do. they're understandable, but they're not very useful in terms of getting the kinds of information you need, not just about finding bin laden but also what is the tribal structure of these places, who are the power players, the kinds of things that major general flynn, the head of intelligence in afghanistan, complained publicly about is that there isn't much a sense of the intelligence community of the kinds of things we really need to know. who are the political power players in a particular area? what is the tribal structure? these kinds of things. it's kind of amazing nine years after 9/11 these are still things that we don't really understand. >> nine years and half a trillion dollars, as yo

>> also in afghanistan, government officials say a nato air strike targeting a taliban meeting in helmande killed at least 17 people, including some taliban comman r commanders and three civilians. nato is still investigating the report of civilian casualties. >>> iran's intelligence minister says authorities have arrested nuclear spies in connection with a damaging worm that infected computers in its nuclear program. tehran has insisted its nuclear program has not been compromised by the virus. >>> iran's president is calling for u.s. leaders to be, quote, buried in response to threats of a military attack of dtehran's nuclear program. the associated press reports that president mahmoud ahmadinejad used a deeply offensive insult directed at the united states in a speech today. u.s. officials say that a military option is on the table, but have not directly threatened iran with a military strike. >>> in california's gubernatorial debate aimed at latino voters, it turned into an angry exchange last night when republican meg whitman accused democrat jerry brown of orchestrating the scandal

i went down into helmand where people were not being successful. that was not the reality on the ground. as i went down, this was a company that had been creative for high in combat and people that had entered the service with the expectation that they would fight the enemy. in this area, i found pieces of cardboard that were off of mailboxes and they had written different lessons of counterinsurgency and they were written and posted all over the camp. every time you to your bond for to the small child all, you read the lessons that were learned. these were things that they learned in that area recently. i thought that this was kind of gimmicky, so i went to talk with the noncommissioned officers and the young marines. it was extraordinary because they were doing it. was not a chain of command. -- it was not a chain of command handing it down. harvard university is a preeminent university, but the students there have a level of idealism and frustration with the progress that they see and they have organized student leadership groups. they still e-m

when marines launched a mission in helmand province there were five marines on the ground for every one afghan soldier. that ratio is now 1 to 1. and we finally are seeing afghan forces leading some operations in other districts around and near kandahar. having afghans lead these operations is the taliban's worst nightmare because it gives the lie to the taliban propaganda that portrays western troops as hostile okay pyres. afghans themselves will be more effective than our troops winning the trust of the afghan people. it's been said by some who oppose the july, 2011, date that the taliban have an expression. that the west has the watches but we have the time. that is the taliban are more patient and will simply wait us out until july, 2011. well, i do hope they hide and wait. because at the end of their wait, they will face a much larger, much stronger afghan force. time is not on the side on the taliban unless the afghan leadership squanders the time between now and july 2011. critics much u.s. strategy say that setting a date to reduce our troops shows a lack of resolve on our count

i went down into helmand where people were not being successful. that was not the reality on the ground. as i went down, this was a company that had been creative for high in combat and people that had entered the service with the expectation that they would fight the enemy. in this area, i found pieces of cardboard that were off of mailboxes and they had written different lessons of counterinsurgency and they were written and posted all over the camp. every time you to your bond for to the small child all, you read the lessons that were learned. these were things that they learned in that area recently. i thought that this was kind of gimmicky, so i went to talk with the noncommissioned officers and the young marines. it was extraordinary because they were doing it. was not a chain of command. -- it was not a chain of command handing it down. harvard university is a preeminent university, but the students there have a level of idealism and frustration with the progress that they see and they have organized student leadership groups. they still e-m

and it was the amount of money, millions of dollars being spent in helmand province, afghanistan, andorleans. is that up and running? >> no, it's not, mike. and that's sad, because the question to president obama was, where's our $400 million to get charity hospital back on its feet and get it going? because it's still, in five years, not a full-service hospital in new orleans. and when president obama came back this fall or labor day weekend, the fifth anniversary of katrina, people thought maybe then he was going to make it happen. i don't know why it wasn't part of that first stimulus bill that went out, where aig paid $400 billion, or this health care plan that just went in, why wasn't it one of the first things in that health care to take care of our brother and sisters in new orleans and give charity hospital the $400 million so they have a full-service hospital in new orleans, mike. >> you know, digger, in the years since the hospital, there's really, i don't think any way we can assess the number of lives that have been lost since the hurricanes, lives lost to addiction, lives

should not be in the major combat role, and i have to say to him, but then we would have been in helmand province of longer than the entire second world war. i simply do not expect that taking the long-term decisions about the defense of our country, making difficult you i- defense. i would say quite opposite. i am passionate about our armed forces, but you do not serve them by putting off decisions to the future. >> mr. roger williams. >> think you, mr. speaker. the appointments of the matrix as the preferred bidder for the project had been terminated. it is a disappointment for the armed forces who need those facilities and a disappointment for wales and the welsh economy. the statement goes on to say alternative options will begin as soon as possible. can the prime minister give us assurance that the site will remain prominent among the options? >> i absolutely can give him that assurance. what happened is the current program is not affordable as currently set out. this is not the end of the road. there are straining that takes place there now. everyone knows that they need to train t

general mcchrystal h to press president karzai to take ownership of a campaign in helmand seeking unsuccessfully for far too long his approval of the start of those operations. president karzai's approval. it also took too long for president karzai to meet with elders in preparation for the campaign in and around kandahar city. and en president karzai speaks out publicly about coalition military operations, it is more often to criticize civilian casualties than in support of our operations and his own army's operations. that is a more powerful reason to stick to the july 2011 date for accelerating the transaction to afghanistan security responsibility. namely, that transition is what the afghan people want. as president obama has said, make no mistake. this transition will begin because open-ended war serves neither our interest nor the afghan peoples. thefghan people wantheir own security forces and not international troops to protect them. i saw this more a year ago, excuse me. i saw this here me than a year ago when i visited a gathering of pastun elders in a provincial town -- sorry. in a pv

we never put enough troops into helmand province. there is all this stuff. there is still the question, what do you do? the strategic weakness for us in afghanistan is we do not have a reliable symbol body to work with. in the absence of that, how do you bring this thing to a conclusion which allows the united states and nato to withdraw in reasonable order? the only thing i can see that we can bring to help would be a massively complex operation. thinking hastual to be more ambitious. you have to say afghanistan, pakistan, india, china, russia, iran -- in other words, before you know where you are, you are starting to think about a grand, international conference of people who have a stake in the fate of afghanistan, and to try and create some kind of sense of international guarantees would come to be perfectly frank, allow us to withdraw was some measure of honor. beyond that, i haven't a clue what we do, except that we will not be fighting beyond 2005 -- >> and that was five years ago. >> a senior moment, sorry. 2015. five years from now, when he has said