richard holbrooke. he is here in the situation room. >>> he tried to get the answers to the questions everyone is asking. why is she doing it? and what's next? >> when i first met your dad, the one thing he will me about you is how tough you were. no matter what was coming down the pike, sarah could handle it. did this prove tougher than you thought? >> what has proven tough is making this decision. it was a decision i did not make lightly. it was consideration before i made the decision. it is tough to take a tougher road, a less comfortable road, the comfortable road for most politicians is you just hang in there and go with the flow. especially through a lame duck session. you won't get anything done but you take advantage of it. do what you want to do your final year. tough is i won't take that comfortable path. i'll take the right path for the state. i'll let the state progress. and then i can get out there and help people. help effect change in our state and positive change in our nation. that's m

president obama's special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan, ambassador richard holbrook said it was not surprising the pakistan military was able to talk to the taliban. however he did describe their disclosure of the fact as a positive development. >> there have been long allegations that there are continued contacts and i think it is a step forward for the pakistanis to say publicly what everyone has always assumed. >> under what some pakistani military officers described as intense pressure back home in pakistan, following the revelations that the military was still talking with the taliban, pakistan military headquarters issued a statement denying the remarks attributed to its official spokesman as baseless, fabricated and taken out of context. even though those remarks were made on camera. nonetheless, ambassador richard holbrooke says he will privately take up the issue with the government of pakistan when he visits in coming weeks. michael ware, cnn. >>> britain has reached a bleak milestone. the number of brittons killed in afghanistan now exceeds those who lost their lives

it is not true that richard holbrooke is seen running from the scene. >> former marine general jim jones, he should have obama's here --ear. there have been a number of stories saying he is competing with obama's campaign staff to help run the white house. jim jones is having to compete with this younger cadres of campaign workers to get space. >> that is that -- not the way it is supposed to be. eveready said he will bash heads together, he is one that looks bloodied at the moment. >> what we have in this white house, a strange thing, special envoy. we also have inside outside people in energy, someone on health care. in the white house, which leads a agency and the cabinet member with a layer between that person and the president. >> i must be the only one that happened -- that knows what happened to the czar. i have heard complaints within state department that there is a shortage of space to put all of the special envoys' in. this whole thing is beginning to looked a little bit more like the first clinton administration. it was driven very much by the political. it would also be a na

despite the criticism, president obama's special envoy to the region, richard holbrook, said the american presence is important, highlighting the ongoing operation in helmand. >> this election will take place on schedule, and helmand will be able to participate thanks to this offensive that general nicholson and his colleagues are directing. >> reporter: karzai has been accused of running a lackluster campaign but is still widely expected to finish first. his no show on the debate may not have hurt his chances. the fazli family is split on who they're voting for. >> president karzai. >> reporter: whether the debate will have the same impact as american ones do on its voters is unclear. afghan's democracy is still very much an experiment. mandy clark, cbs news, kabul. >>> actress angelina jolie made a trip to iraq. jolie, a u.n. good will ambassador, visited a camp for displaced people near baghdad yesterday and posed for pictures with u.s. troops. jolie said there was progress getting iraqis back to their homes but that more needs to be done. ben fell in love with the scent of gain laundr

and there's envoy for afghanistan and pakistan richard holbrook, even man with a direct line to the white house. then there is the most prominent foreign enjoy -- envoy of all, vice president joe biden. he has taken on iraq as his special project. the vice president has also been locking nearly as many frequent-flier miles as the secretary. last week he visited georgia which is still recovering from last year's russian invasion. and yesterday in "the wall street journal," he said of russia, the world is changing before them. and they're clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable. that left secretary clinton to explain that washington does not intend to try to push russia around. >> no, and i don't think that's at all what the vice president meant. >> reporter: those who know hillary clinton well say her new visibility is about laying down the law inside washington but not necessarily in a confrontational way. they say she wants to run a foreign policy team like a ceo runs a company or a candidate runs a campaign. russ. >> mitchell: kimberlie dozier, at the white house, than

a very self-confident woman who have richard holbrooke to run afghanistan and pakistan and we'll only know in time. once the discipline comes out, how many positions, strong positions that she's taking behind the scenes. my money's on hillary. >> we have no idea what's going to behind the scenes and the number of high-profile speeches are not a reflection of an actual influence on policy. >> i have to end it. carla robbins, gideon rose, thank you both. >>> finally tonight we want to take you back in time to 700 b.c. when scientists believed a massive earthquake caused part of an ancient side to fall into the aegean sea. that city is in western turkey. where marine archaeologist from israel have begun to recover the remains of that port. we hear about it from our newest partner, the israeli broadcasting authority. its report has been translated from hebrew by our israeli producer. >> reporter: off the shores of the west turkish town liman tepe, an ancient port used more than 2,500 years ago has been discovered. unt its existence had only been rumored but then turkish researchers decide

some of them, such as richard holbrooke, they have divided up different parts of the world. doesn't this along to the state department? >> we used to call them roving ambassadors. greta: i have a list, next to it, these are the different departments that today follow. why do we need all of these people? >> you have people that are presidential envoys historically. greta: president reagan created the czars. he had it pentagon procurement czars. president bush had 12. >> he has one for of every cabinet office. greta: they were dealing with the classic consent of the senate. >> this is administrative chaos. if he put together a chart of the organizational structure that is supposed to be there and then you lay over the charred all the various czars, would look like spaghetti. greta: we have an aids czar, how come this isn't hhs? we have one for cars, how come assistant treasury. >> they have to have staff, offices, travel. greta: the list goes on, how come the weapons czar isn't handled by state? >> maybe it is a new technique. greta: are you scandalized by this or not? >> i am

envoy to afghanistan, richard holbrooke. >> let me be very clear. i'm not going to rule out or rule in anything on a hypothetical basis and not get drawn into speculation on an issue this complicated. i want to underscore existing policy addressed by everybody in the u.s. government from the president on down. there is room in afghanistan for taliban people who have fought with the taliban, willing to disassociate and renounce al qaeda and lay down their arms. >> in new york, part of bernard madoff's old office is up for lease. fbi agents investigating the massive ponzi scheme are still looking at records on one floor until next summer. madoff is serving 150 years in prison for the scam that wiped out thousands of investors. >> interesting to see who takes on that office space. >> you think maybe they would get a deal. >> the current real estate climate and there may have been some shady stuff going on there. >>> erin brockovich, protecting families in fear. taking us to a community where the people are choking on ash. now they are trying to get som

from the state department, this is 40 minutes. >> we have special envoy in richard holbrooke back from his visit and it was time to give you an update on the situation in both countries as we deal with the current situation in pakistan and also had toward the elections in afghanistan. richard, thank you for coming. >> thank you. i would be happy to take your questions. just identify yourself, please. >> "financial times." following the funding commitments that the u.s. and its partners receive for the expansion at the nato summit -- >> funding commitments? >> you had a couple of hundred million dollars from germany. delors new commitments? dollars to expand that forces. >> i did not go to europe to get more commitments. the expansion of our service and police and afghanistan is hardly a secret. my trip -- my job was not to get new commitments. >> it is just a general question. how sustainable is the expansion that is envisioned in the strategy? where do you forsake the main funding to come from? >> i misunderstood. a but you were talking about something. it is absolutely essential that

american envoy richard holbrooke promised pakistani leaders that the u.s.ailand, secretary of state hillary clinton met with her counterparts from several southeast asian countries, but as james rosen reports, her mind was on another part of the world. >> in an hour-long interview on one of thailand's most popular talk shows, secretary of state clinton warned iran about the countermeasures the u.s. would take to protect its persian gulf allies in the event tehran obtai a nuclear weapon. >> if the united states extends a defense umbrella over the region, if we do even more to support the military capacity of those in the gulf, it's unlikely that iran will be any stronger or safer because they won't be able to intimidate and dominate as they apparently believe they can once they have a nuclear weapon. >> later, in phuket, clinton stressed that the obama administration still views a nuclear-armed iran as, quote, unacceptable, and that she was only trying to influence the calculations of iran's hard-line regime. >> it faces the prospect if it pursues nuclear we

among our guests, the middle east special envoy, richard holbrooke, the special representative to afghanistan and pakistan. >>> that's it for us. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." up next, "lou dobbs tonight." kitty pilgrim sitting in for lou. kitty? >> thanks wolf. >>> tonight, president obama is on his last leg of his overseas tour, but as the president travels abroad, his domestic here at home from health care to the environment has setbacks. >>> and once again aig is the subject of taxpayer scorn. it has no plans to pay millions of dollars of new bonuses to executives. >>> and a group of black and hispanic children thrown out of a suburban philadelphia swim club. receive an apology. but they aren't allowed back. accusations of racism against the club are being investigated. >>> plus, the naacp turns 100 this year. is the civil rights organization still relevant? that is the topic of our "face off" debate tonight. >>> but, first, president obama is in africa tonight. and the president arriving in ghana, just a short while ago. he left italy this morning following the g-8 summit. no

agree upon, but it is to our advantage to have george mitchell in the middle east today, to have richard holbrooken afghanistan, to have retired general scott grace en coming back from a sixth or seventh trip to sudan. i could not have possibly given the attention that we need to the in-depth way that is required for all of this. and the feeling on the part of much of the world that the prior administration, for understandable reasons, focused so much on some of the specific issues, like iraq, et cetera, that really grabbed it and required a lot of attention, that much of the rest of the world felt, you know, that they were kind of second tier. when i went to the ossian meeting, itn't been for some time that we had a secretary of state pay continuing attention. we announced an exciting new relationship with the lower mekong countries. we are working, everywhere we can to make clear, you know, that the unitestates cnot solve all the problems of the world alone, but the world cannot solve them without the united states. >> here was a recent headline that got a lot of attention, not surprisingly, in

. >> just before the i want, secret service spotted richard holbrooke spraying wd-40 all over the drivewayome media pundits say it's not a joke. clinton they claim is being sidelines. jim hoglund said it's the president's inner circle of advisors like rom emmanuel and david axle rod who really decide policy. senator bob casey says that's wrong. >> i believe hillary clinton in the arena of foreign policy is the leader working with the president and i think she's done it well. >> administration officials close to the secretary point to her leading role on china policy. on relations with russia, with north korea. her strategic dialogue with india. clinton, they say, is rebuilding the state department. winning back some of the influence it lost to the pentagon in the previous administration. in a city of sharp elbows, they claim, hillary clinton, diplomat and politician, knows how to use hers. on the secretary's speech today, her aides say she's been planning it for months and her elbow injury did force her to push it back by a few weeks but they deny she's getting it to grab the spotlight bac

the white house's special envoy to the south asia region, holbrooke, richard holbrooke, said he seeshis as being a step forward. the pakistani officials are in touch with elements of the taliban. we remember during the election campaign that then candidate obama said america has to talk to its enemies, michael. >> that's right, john. and this is quite potentially the first major development in what's going to necessarily have to be part of a political process that will eventually end this conflict in afghanistan because this conflict is not going to be won with bombs and bullets alone. the generals and the diplomats all agree on that. now the afghan president hamid karzai has been reaching out to the taliban. but the taliban are in their sanctuaries in pakistan. so the true hope for any kind of dialogue still lays or lies with the pakistani military. and their acknowledgment that they are in touch with the top taliban leadership has been welcomed by the u.s. let's have a listen to what ambassador holbrooke told me just the other day. >> the united states supports any effort at reconc

what we have richard holbrooke back from his trip from afghanistan. we thought it was the time to give you an update on the situation in both countries as we do with the current situation of pakistan and also head toward the elections in afghanistan. thank you for coming. >> i will be happy to take for questions. just identify yourself, please. >> following the funding commitments that the u.s. responded. -- commitment of the afghan national -- you had a couple from germany. >> are you talking but nukes? >i did not go to europe to give more commitments. with the expansion of the armed services, it is obviously necessary my job in this trip was not to go around getting a commitment. >> it is a general question, how sustainable is the expansion of the nass and strategy? where do you seize the main part of the funding to come from? >> sorry, i miss understood this. it is absolutely essential that over time afghanistan will assume responsibility for its own security and combat troops drawdown. through economic assistance, training, we will continue to do

administration are the people who can dominate the table with sheer brilliance like larry summers, richard holbrooke, peter orszag. those people really dominate. that is a positive side in the debate. the negative side of self- confidence is, to me, the decision to do everything at once with a people. they had to do it by handing off a lot of power to capitol hill, which i think led to a lot of mishmash of mediocre policies when they could have had clear and may be more ambitious policies. the money is just out of control. it started under bush. i completely admit to that. in 2019, the national debt will have doubled. the interest on the debt will be $819 billion a year under obama is a budget. there is just no way that is ok. he talks agreed game about control, but my fear if you control 60 votes, you control the house. you are insane if you try to cut people off or make tough choices. the 60 votes is a paradoxical measure. i care most about health care costs. >> there have been -- we are seeing certain characteristic elements in government strategy at home and those abroad. one has alluded to that

she advocated for richard holbrooke who is in pakistan.hat was her choice. >> thank you very much, gentlemen. pleasure to have you both with us. trace: meantime, there are stunning new developments in the murder of the wealthy florida couple with the 17 kids. next. go lean for breakfast, you'll also have to add all these vitamins and minerals... to get what you need every day. or... just eat total. it has 100% of the daily value of 11 nutrients... and delicious flakes, real cranberries... and crunchy oat clusters. total. are you getting 100%? compare your cereal at totalcereal.com and get a coupon. into revolutionary performance. one word makes the difference between defining the mission and accomplishing the mission. one word makes the difference in defending our nation and the cause of freedom. how... is the word that makes all the difference. you have questions. who can give you the financial advice you need? where will you find the stability and resources to keep you ahead of this rapidly evolving world? these are tough questions. that

ambassador richard holbrooke is the point person on south asia.ill join us to talk about a new way forward in afghanistan. and then, if you thought gators were tough, wait until you meet florida's only licensed female alligator trapper. all that ahead. 36 minutes after the hour. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me

for instance, richard holbrooke is dealing with afghanistan and pakistan and george mitchell is overseeing are on the same page despite they fought over foreign policy on the campaign. listen to it. >> i think the campaign magnified the differences more than they actually are. that's what happens with campaigns. i'm sure you've notice thad. we talked a lot about what we would want to do and how we would set the goals and achieve our objectives, and maybe some differences of degree, but not necessarily differences of kind. >> so there you have it. hillary clinton says she's on the same page. >> joining the conversation, mo, a former clinton campaign spokesperson and karen is with us who both worked for bill and hillary and democratic strategist and stephen a. and contessa are here. mo, i will say having had the benefit of interviewing a lot of different folks over the decade and a half, i cannot think of a person who is more intellectually formidable and more impressive and capable in communication, in general, than hillary clinton. and, again, forget whether you like her or not and you're

richard holbrooke is here and he put together an interagency team as well at international team. we have been tense, ongoing discussion with our allies and others who want to play a part in promoting the strategy that the president put forth. is challenging because of the global economic crisis that everybody is facing. is also difficult as it is in our own country to understand, you have been there for nearly eight years and now you are adding more troops and asking for more funding, sending more civilians. we have to answer these questions in our own country. you saw where prime minister brown in great britain said they lost eight soldiers. the government went out and began talking about why it was important to work with the united states and others in afghanistan and got, from what i could glean, a more positive response than people anticipated because you have to be willing to assuage the fears and anxieties and paint a picture of where you're going. on the civilian side, this has been one of the areas and my deputy of resource management working with ambassador holbrooke and

if you were to give richard holbrooke in a room alone he would tell you the same.to the one who called about being tired of war. the main reason we are there was that the twin towers, the thousand of our brightest are now gone. the first time we have ever experienced that. it is like the whole thing with bush -- i do not know. iraq, iraq, iran, iran --and let's forget about afghanistan. the fact that well, al qaeda -- you know? bin laden running around somewhere in a cave with his dialysis machine -- go on now. do not get me started. and tried to stay on point. we do need to get rid of al qaeda. -- i am trying to stay on point. having been a marine i can certainly and understand what you have experienced. i was in vietnam. do not get me started about the military complex host: thank you. he began by talking about the president's karzai -- what is his standing with the u.s. government, u.s. military, and his own people. how strong is the government over there? guest: the u.s. government has been very clear. there is an election in august coming up for the president

richard holbrooke is here. he is put together a team internationally and in the inter agency. we had discussions with our allies and with others to want to play a part in promoting the strategy that the president put forward. it is challenging because of the global economic crisis that everybody is facing. it is also difficult in our own country to understand. you have been there for nearly eight years and now you are at the more troops and you are asking for more funding and you are going to send more civilians. we have to answer these questions and our own country. use all wear prime minister brown you -- you saw where prime minister brown lost eight soldiers. the government went out and began talking about why it was important to stand with the united states and others in afghanistan. they got a more positive response of than people anticipated because you have to be willing to try to paint a picture of where you are going. on the civilian side, this has been one of the areas that my deputy for resource management, working with paul burke and his team -- kohlberg -- holbroo

and richard holbrooke talks to reporters about his recent visit to afghanistan and pakistan. >> we arebout health care tomorrow morning on "washington journal." our guests are david lightman, tom harkin and congressman nathan deal, on the energy and commerce committee that will be working on legislation this week. plus, congressman orol pomeroy, part of the blue dogs, a group of fiscally conservative democrats. >> george with assigned the declaration of independence. he was also murdered. q&a sunday, author bruce chetworth on "i am murdered" the killing that shocked a nation. that is at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. >> a senate hearing today that the makeup of corporate boards. the witnesses included an official from the securities and exchange commission, as well as advocates from corporate and shareholder interests. this is about two hours. >> let me call the hearing to order and welcome our witnesses, thank you, ladies and gentlemen. we expect that the ranking member will arrive momentarily. today's hearing will focus on corporate board rooms and try to help us better understand th

she wanted deputy secretary of state richard holbrooke. but she was overruled by the obama administration and insisted that he had james steinberg and she lost the ability to appoint ambassadorships which is usually the secretary of state prerequisi prerequisite. she wanted someone else in the japanese post and she was upset with an obama fundraiser. between the curtailment, she's feeling as if she's been boxed out. >> is she happy she took the job? >> it's hard to say. i would say another six months will answer that question. i think she's finding the job immensely interesting. she loves to chew on that foreign policy. she adores it. but i think she's a big leader herself and she has really taken a position where i call her obama's other wife. she's playing backup to him. i think she might find that frustrating. >> always nice to at a to youk from the dailybeast.com. if you want to look at her bl, some people like to pretend... a flood could never happen to them... and that their homeowners insurance... protects them. it doesn't. stop pre

agreed it up -- agree upon, but it is our advantage to have george mitchell in the middle east, richard holbrooke and afghanistan and a retired general coming back from his sixth or seventh trip in sudan and todd stern meeting our efforts on climate change. i could not possibly give it attention in in-depth way required of all of this. and i think the feeling on the part of what of this world is the prior administration -- for understandable reasons -- focused so much on some of the specific issues like iraq, etc., that really grabbed it and required a lot of attention, that much of the rest of the world felt that they were kind of second tier. host: not just the envoys, but vice president biden taking a role with his recent trip to russia, georgia, and yesterday on "meet the press the tiered secretary clinton did have something to say about the vice president. clinton moves to calm the moscow remarks by biden. guest: i think there are some people out there that do see the situation now as a bit of a complicated one. you have the president himself doing a lot of overseas travel, speaking out on m

richard holbrooke is traveling to pakistan and then to afghanistan. we are still trying to work through his schedule in afghanistan. we will get that information to you when we can. he will focus on the range of economic and security issues and a situation of the internal refugees and reconstruction plans. he is scheduled to meet with the president, prime minister and the general. he will have breakfast several leaders. that is all i have. >> he is in bangkok now? is he with the secretary? >> no, he is not. >> he is in washington? >> i believe he is on his way to pakistan right now. >> from washington? >> i believe so. >> what about the meeting? >> we are doing our best to get that information to you. senator mitchell will be leaving shortly to travel. they are working the last minute detail out. i will try to give you the itinerary as soon as possible. i do not have much more. >> what about the rumor about the donn mitchell predict that the mitchell would be waiting [unintelligible] did you hear about that? >> not all. >> the prime minister of north

i am privileged to partner with one of the world's great diplomats, ambassador richard holbrooke, truly a force of nature as those who know him will attest, an extraordinary individual, he was the key figure in the dayton accords, when general challis was the joint chiefs, he gave up his chief of plans, general wesley clark, we are working on afghanistan and pakistan together, very important to have a regional approach and ambassador dennis ross, another skilled and experienced diplomat, who is focusing the efforts on iran and the our reach to syria. next side. let's talk about iraq and go on to talk about afghanistan and some others and turn to the questions. 2009 is a very significant year in iraq, it is a transition year, a year during which all of the non u.s. coalition members have departed or will be part, although there's still a nato mission in iraq that has other nations in it. we are obviously drawing down our forces. we have just completed the withdrawal of our combat elements from the cities in accordance with the u.s./iraq security agreement and we are changing our focus so

representative for afghanistan and pakistan, the former united states ambassador to the united nations, richard holbrooke. >> nice to be here, wolf. >> it looks like the situation in afghanistan is going from bad to worse. is it? >> well, the situation in afghanistan deteriorated dramatically in the last four or five years. president obama came to office pledging to reverse that because our national security interests are directly at stake. this isn't some remote place. this is the area from which the men of 9/11 planned to attack the u.s. and they say they're going to do it again. >> but it seems to be deteriorating almost on a weekly or monthly basis. >> well, i think what is true is that it deteriorated steadily and that the enemy increased its forces. this is why president obama made what he himself has called in his recent interview with "newsweek" the most difficult decision in his presidency, to send a 17,000 troops and 4,000 military trainers there to reverse the trend. >> another 21,000 on top of the many thousands who are already there. >> total of 68,000 americans -- >> 68,000 u.s. troops. >>

richard holbrook's trip to the central afghan province coincided with president -- with the president's first election rally in kabul. he said the elections here will be encouraged. it goes on to another story in the washington post. he is talking about the capable afghan forces. this says it complicates the u.s. mission in the southern part of afghanistan. said the push of marines to southern helmand will be determined by whether there are enough qualified afghan forces to partner with and eventually leave behind to protect afghan civilians. the commander of the marine forces said that urgent efforts are underway to dispatch additional afghan forces. afghan forces remain few in number, as well as short of training, equipment, and basic supplies such as fuel area some afghans quit because they're reluctant to work in the violent assault. the afghan troops heavily dependent on forces are hesitant to take on additional responsibilities. we hear from tracy honor republican line. -- on our republic in line. caller: we only have a nation where 50% of americans pay a federal tax. is this goin

she's followed by richard holbrook the u.s. special representative to afghanistan and pakistan and talks to reporters about his recent trip to asian europe. now secretary mrs. napolitano:. she is introduced by the editor-in-chief by the organization. >> good morning. i will be your presider today. welcome to our meeting. today, participants around the nation and the world are viewing this meeting via live web cast on c.f.r.'s website www.cfr.org. please turn off, not just put on vibrate, your cell phones, blackberries and all of the other wireless devices you've got to avoid interference with the sound system. i would like to remind everybody, all the members that this meeting is on the record. secretary of homeland security, janet mrs. napolitano:, leads the department of 225,000 people charged with helping the american people prevent or failing to cope with disasters resulting from acts of god or acts of man. in her first few months in office, secretary mrs. napolitano: has led the federal response to the swine flu and the ob

richard holbrooke is here and he put together an interagency team as well as an international team. we have intense ongoing discussions with our allies and with others and who want to play a part in promoting the strategy that the president put forth. now it's challenging because of the global economic crisis that everybody faces. it's also difficult, as it is in our own country, to understand, well wait a minute you've been there for nearly eight years and now you're adding more troops and you're asking for more funding and you're going to send more civilians. so -- i mean, we have to answer these questions in our own country. and, you know, you saw where prime minister brown in great britain -- you know, they lost eight soldiers. and the government went out and began talking about why it was important to stand with the united states and others in afghanistan, you know, got from what i could glean, you know, a more positive response than people anticipated because you have to be willing to, you know, try to assuage the fears and anxieties and, you know, paint a picture of where you

i am proud to work with one of the world's great diplomats, richard holbrooke, julie force of nature,se -- truly a force of nature, as those who know him will attest. he was the key figure in the days in a course in bosnia -- dayton accords in bosnia. again, we are working on afghanistan and pakistan together. very important to have a regional approach. and then we have a very skilled and experienced diplomat who is focusing the efforts on iran and also, the average to syria. next slide. let's talk a little bit about iraq and then we will go on to talk about afghanistan and some others and then turn to the questions. 2009 is a very significant here in iraq. it is a transition year. it is a year in which all of the non-u.s. coalition members have departed or will depart. although, there's still a nato training mission in iraq that does have other nations in it. we're obviously drawing down our forces. we have just completed the withdrawal of our combat elements from the cities in accordance with the u.s.-iraq security agreement and we are also changing our focus. we're going from bein