the mayor? what about before the war and after the war? >> there was no al qaeda prior to 2003. we created al qaeda in iraq. we didn't conditions out of our invasion did. that happened. we can't change that. there were sporadic strategically insignificant contacts with a few al qaeda personalities that did not amount to much but who was ruling al qaeda? it was being run by ivan of our colleague --ayman al zarqawi. he took charge of the key battle, moved into the area and attempted to wipe out the awakening. very unusual strategy which was light infantry. foot soldiers. dozens of foot soldiers launching a boots on the ground attack pivotal to the awakening. they came within a hair of doing it. the calculus might have been shuffled differently and all comes down to a moment when travis patriquin is looking at the jumbo screen at the fight is getting wiped out. our forces can't figure out who is who. there are aircraft overhead trying to kill the terrorists and patriquin says in arabic take off your shirts and wave them in the air. take anything you got. handkerchiefs, pants and shirt. that way we will know wh

the shirts off is fascinating. what was his feeling about the war itself because you mentioned in some ways the american presence in iraq helped create al qaeda so what was his feeling about the war itself and about how the president was waging it. >> patriquin thought we should have gone in much stronger with a lot more special forces. many more special forces. he had a lot of problems with the way the war was prosecuted. i don't think that he saw it as his job to say publicly or even to his friends whether we should have gone into the he believed in the mission as he sought to halt iraqi eliminate terrorism and build a new nation. he very much believe in that and that was the agenda as of 2006 he believed in that. he did -- i think he voted for bush as his mother told me, but by 2006 he realized and send an e-mail to his brother that said as long as bush is running this war we are never going to get anything accomplished. we'll never going to do anything right. and i think that he saw big mistakes made by bush, rumsfeld, chaney and brummer. of those men according to his e-mail and discussions he had he held personally

the iraqi government survey can teach and develop that strategy to take off insurance. of was this feeling of the war itself? he mentioned in some wayside the american and presidents and iraq helped to create al qaeda so was his feeling about the war itself how president bush? >> patriquin that we should of bond and heavier and stronger with more special forces. he had a lot of problems i don't think he sought as his job to say publicly whether not we should have believed wei he thought they should eliminate terrorism to build a new nation and believed in that. that was the agenda but i think he voted for bush in his mother told me but by 2006 the realized as long as bush is running the war will never get anythingt accomplished and he thought big mistake made by a bush, rumsfeld cheney that he held personally responsible forh mismanagement in to he thought the iraqi war could be more.ha >>pp z awakening to see thee similarities? >> you say this is aar momentan of the era of spring of dictatorship of anbartion province of in there is much connection beyond the spu terror. i don't think anybody look so what happened says inspiration. to facilitate the air of spring something

the afghanistan war after all is still going on. but a grass roots effort, a really grass roots effort in st. louis has put the nation's first end of the iraqarade on the calendar for this upcoming saturday. >> yes, i think we're going to make it, i think st. louis will not only make it but we'll lead the way for country, we'll set an example. >> the city it is taking motivating from the mayor's office to volunteers to housewives, to -- it's amazing, what is happening right now. really made us believe that impossible thing was nonsense. >> by day the guy you saw that, craig schneider works in educational technology in a st. louis school district. he puts the computers together and make sure they work. that is what he does by day. by evening and night and early in the morning he has been raising money for the parade. getting veterans groups together to welcome the troops at the end of the parade. craig and another friend raised north of $25,000 so far on their facebook page. make january 28th welcome home the heros fromle the war day. after parade on saturday, groups that work with returning veterans will set up tables for a day-long event.

. >> police find a body of the iraq war veteran suspected of killing a ranger in a national forest. anchorage in budapest. did they say the new constitution is an attack on the mark -- anger in budapest. they say the new constitution is an attack. welcome to "newday." -- "newsday." the head of the arab league has said the syrian army has pulled out of residential areas. the killings continue and snipers remain a threat. observers were sent to monitor the violence. >> of the arab league observers have been in the country for a week. protesters want them to listen. these pictures are believed to be from close to the capital of damascus. their chants, people want international protection. there is disagreement about whether the mission is achieving anything. today in cairo, the arab league secretary-general said there had been progress. >> military vehicles and tanks have been withdrawn . they are now positioned on the outskirts. monitors have been able to provide food for the people and retrieved dead bodies. >> yes, there is gunfire. there are snipers. according to the account to rece

the help they can get apparently. even with this message, they have not been able to put a positive spin on this. >> you say i hate this war. did you hate the iraq war? >> yes. >> did you hate the afghanistan war? >> i learned to hate war in general. it would be difficult going for a number of things to be gung- ho about any conflict. this adventurism has made me -- all war does in my experience is destroy what we love. it destroys people. it destroys families. it destroys homes. it destroys memories. it is very dark. the flip side is that there is this grand excitement to be involved in it. that is the operators. they love the war in a sick and twisted way. i was talking to a state department official. he was recalling his time in baghdad. in 2006, he said it was a magical. there are all sorts of conflicting feelings. the states are the highest it will ever be. it is life and death. you feel like you're at the center of history. that is an intoxicating feeling. hence the cover of the book where we have an illustrated picture of a general with a pistol in one hand and a scotch glass in another. that is intoxication. >> did you have a problem wit

. >> since 1976 when you say it became more use in the military academy, three major wars have been fought. the cold war, the iraq war, and the current war in afghanistan. do you see traces of "on war"? can you see traces of "on war" in those wars speak as well, more in the breach than in the observance of "on war." again, i recall in 2003 vice president cheney said as justification for the invasion of iraq that everyone knows that the offense is a stronger form of war. and, in fact, everyone might know this, but that category would include carl van clausewitz who argue quite the opposite. for reasons i think that are applicable to that particular case, and other cases. i think, clausewitz is convinced that time works for the offender and not the attacker. and that a strategy of attrition on the part of the defender will ultimately cause an attacker to modify his political objections. and this is of course a perfectly consistent with clausewitz strategic perspective because it's only -- his own country, prussia, had france as a next-door neighbor. if there was going to be any hope for prussian national survival,

dozens of police and federal agents used dogs to search our remote wilderness for the veteran of the iraq war. 9 >> the search for the gunmen who was suspended -- suspected of killing a park ranger started on sunday. benjamin barnes, a 24-year-old veteran of the iraq war is believed to have fled to the park after an earlier shooting that wounded four people in seattle. his vehicle failed to stop edit check point where -- at a check point. mr. barnes opened fire on a park ranger that was patrolling the chuck point the. . >> there are researchers involved in the search for the killer. ranger mark anderson spotted what. appeared to be a body in the primary search area. subsequently, this afternoon, a number of our tactical search teams were able to reach the body and confirmed that it was, indeed, the deceased primary suspect in this killing. >> benjamin barnes is said to have trouble returning to civilian life after his deployment four years ago. last year, he was involved in a custody dispute over his daughter. the park ranger who died -- margaret anderson -- is the first female park ranger ki

understand this is a strategic foreign policy problem that the united states has had since the failure of the war in iraq the war in iraq was meant to give them a stable pro western pro-business base for operations in the middle east what they ended up doing is making iran a great a regional power than it was before and so they've got to deal with this problem and this is what the sanctions are about but the sanctions as we know in the past as we know over the case of iraq indeed were the precursor to war they were a way of preparing public opinion for military conflict and therefore they are doubly dangerous in this case they're economically dangerous in the short term but as your news report has pointed out we're looking at now a conflict in the gulf of hormuz which is one of the main arteries of the world economy it really couldn't get more serious than this and of course the other big outcry over this that's not the mistake that we've heard from experts say that china would be very glad to buy a round all shipments if the e.u. refuses to so i guess by pushing for sanctions like this isn't the u.s. pr

the afghanistan war after all is still going on. but a grass roots effort, a really grass roots effort in st. louis has put the nation's first end of the iraqelcome home parade on the calendar for this upcoming saturday. >> yes, i think we're going to make it, i think st. louis will not only make it but we'll lead the way for country, we'll set an example. >> the city it is taking motivating from the mayor's office to volunteers to housewives, to -- it's amazing, what is happening right now. really made us believe that impossible thing was nonsense. >> by day the guy you saw that, craig schneider works in educational technology in a st. louis school district. he puts the computers together and make sure they work. that is what he does by day. by evening and night and early in the morning he has been raising money for the parade. getting veterans groups together to welcome the troops at the end of the parade. craig and another friend raised north of $25,000 so far on their facebook page. make january 28th wem welcome home the heros fromle the war day. after parade on saturday, groups that work with returning veterans will set up tables for a

nearly half the expected caucusgoers are yet to settle on a candidate. >>> the man hunt is over for the iraq warran suspected of shooting a park ranger. the body of benjamin barnes was discovered in an icy creek. barnes was also wanted in another shooting near seattle. >>> people in indiana are welcoming the new year with a major snowfall, 6 to 8 inches fell in parts of northern indiana. high winds have added to the weather woes. no major roads were closed. near cincinnati snow is blamed for a series of collisions on interstate 70. the most serious a 40-vehicle pileup which forced the highway to be shut down for several hours on monday. >> just looked over and saw tractor-trailers going sideways and vehicles just slamming into each other. i mean, there was nothing nobody could do. it was just like dominoes. >> minor injuries were reported. >>> coming up, the caucus, a musical. a different take on iowa's presidential politics. i'm terrell brown. this is "the cbs morning news." this is "the cbs morning nauz." mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs b

the way to do it. afghanistan war continues, 90,000 americans deployed, the target date for ending that war is not this year, not next year but the end of the year after that. the iraqover. it has been six weeks since the last u.s. troops crossed in kuwait for the last time. while the trip back from iraq led to lots of emotional homecomings, for families at home and in bases. in the civilian world this has been no welcome home ceremony, no end of the iraq war celebration to say thank you to the troops to welcome them home and say we as a country were at war, a war that has ended. it was not just america's military at war. it was america. there's been no ticker tape, no marching band, no welcome home parade anywhere in civilian life. tomorrow, st. louis, missouri, changes that. st. louis becomes the first city to wave flags, float floats and bang drums to mark the end of the war and say welcome home. all because of two friends who decided if nobody else would hold the nation's first big welcome home for the troops for the end of the iraq war they would try to do it as citizens. they started a facebook page, collected donations, met with the may yoornd soon, voila, a

he made his career off being against the iraq war. who was for the iraq war? pentagon is infested by sort of republicans. and, you know, a u.s. official said to me about general mcchrystal, mcchrystal doesn't understand civilians and doesn't even understand their use. like he doesn't really like get -- it's actually kind of an interesting story this person i spoke to had worked closely to general mcchrystal. he said general mcchrystal is tough on the military people around him, but he sort of nice to civilians. and, at first, i thought like that was sort of funny. it's because like he sees no value or like he not even going to bother being tough on civilians. look. he is a fascinating character. i think in many ways historic figure what he did the past ten years is sort of coming to light now. i enjoyed being with him. >> let's talk about the past, present and future of our war in afghanistan after this break. my patients, you want to hear you've done a good job. that's why i recommend a rinse like crest pro-health multi-protection. it helps you get a better d

iraq years before. at the end of the day it didn't matter. it didn't matter how you felt, whether you loved or hated the iraq war, you had a job to do, you had a mission. when i went, i didn't go because of some political belief. i went because they were sending my soldiers and i'll be damned if anybody sends my soldiers into combat without me. i had a mission and that was part of my service. you don't join the military bass -- because of your political beliefs. you join the military because you want to serve your country and that type of service is really, really difficult. that's a testament to how great this generation is and how great all generations that have chose kren to serve in the military are, that they were able to do this, serve their country and come home and try to become leaders. >> an iraq vet from augusta, georgia. >> caller: how's it going, tom. joe santos. >> wow. >> caller: i was flipping through a channel and thought i'd call in. i appreciate what you're doing and i totally agree. you kind of levelled the playing field out there because my father was a vet and when he retired, it was more about who you knew than what yo

the council on foreign relations, and sometime adviser to general petraeus. and peter has had a long career in diplomacy and has written two books on iraq including "the end of iraq: how american incompetence created a war without end." max, i know you're a compassionate supporter of the end of the war and general petraeus. >> i'm also a critic of the way it was conducted for the first few years, i might add. >> but when you look back, though, $1 trillion, however many iraqi lives, 4,000 american lives, what did we gain? >> i think we gained an opportunity but whether or not we take advantage of that opportunity, i would say no. there's no question that the cost of the war has been high in both blood and treasure, but that's been true in our history. take the korean war. you could have said in the 1950s, what did we gain out of the korean war, a divided peninsula and 38,000 dead, huge cost. but today south korea is a paragon of democracy. it's the dengt welliest country in the world. and so the outcome looks a lot better than it did 50 years ago. if iraq were to develop -- >> but the south koreans, just to keep that analogy, we always had a south korean alli ally th desperately wanted the united states,

the afghanistan war, of course, tens. 90,000 americans deployed in afghanistan now. the target date for ending that war is not this year, not next year but the end of the year after that. the iraqas been six weeks since the last u.s. troops crossed in kuwait for the last time. while the trip back from iraq led to lots of emotional homecomings, for military families at home and at military bases. in.civilian world there has been no welcome home ceremony, no end of the iraq war celebration, to say thank you to the troops. there's been no ticker tape, no marching bands, no welcome home parade anywhere in civilian life. tomorrow st. louis, missouri changes that. they become the first city to say welcome home. it's all because of two friends who decided if nobody else was going to hold the nation's first big welcome home parade for the troops for the end of the iraq war they'd try to do it just as a couple of citizens. they met with the mayor, collected donations, started a facebook page and voila, a parade. floats are being built, marching bands are practicing their routines. the anheuser-busch clydesdales are being harnessed. the parade starts at noon tomorrow, downtown st. louis.

the council of foreign relations and sometimes advisor to foreign relations. he has written two books on iraq, including the end of iraq, how american incompetent created a war without max, looking at it historically, i know you are a passionate advocate of the war. you were a passionate supporter of general petraeus, but you look back. >> this is so critical the way it was kekt conducted for the first few years, i might add. >> when you look back, though $1 trillion, however many iraqi lives, 4,000 american lives. what did we gain? >> i think we gained an opportunity, but whether we will, in fact, take advantage of that opportunity remains to be seen, and on current events i would say no. there's no question that the cost of the war has been high in both blood and treasure, but that's been true of many other wars. the korean war, what did we get out of the korean war, divided peninsula, 38,000 dead, huge costs? today south korea is a paragon of democracy. 50 years ago. if iraq were to develop -- >> ally desperately wanted the united states over which we had enormous influence, that modelled its -- that took enormous amounts of advice, aid, and assistance from. the

to shoot first and ask questions later grotesque massacre has been labeled a turning point in the war in iraq a lot of people claim that it's the reason the insurgents amped up their fight against u.s. troops and it's also one of the most horrific and infamous parts of the war now whatever it was originally charged with manslaughter charges but the staff sergeant agreed to plead guilty to one count of negligent dereliction of duty and the maximum penalty for that charge was only three months in prison he was also demoted to the rank of private but the pretrial agreement also came with a promise of water and serving zero days behind bars on the other seven marines were exonerated for various legal rulings but families of those that were killed were holding out hope that the u.s. would hand down the appropriate punishment and when they learned that what are its actual sentencing was far less severe the response was negative. i mean this does not represent serious accountability for what was clearly a grave a very grave offense you know we are we are quite certain that this is being received ver

. >> they argue that changes will go easier if they consider certain factors the end of the iraq war the drawdown in afghanistan, and successful efforts with nato allies. at a ceremony today for d.c. national guardsmen heading to afghanistan, and understanding that change is inevitable. >> troops will feel the cuts in many ways. the secretary of defense says there would be changes anyway because of these mandated budget cuts by congress. he did admit that these changes are going to be seen by many in the complete overhaul as too drastic and dangerous. >> you can track our coverage of this story on wjla.com. let us know what you think about the cuts in defense spending on our facebook page. >>> council member harry thomas has been charged with two counts of felony theft. thomas is accused of stealing more then $350,000 in government funds and filing false tax returns. court documents reveal the money was earmarked for reduce court -- a plea hearing is set for tomorrow. >>> a man will spend 20 years in jail for a car crash that killed three people. a judge sentenced kevin coffay this af

at the university of texas and radio commentator with npr and a retired reservist colonel and the iraq war veteran and a principal of the high-tech consulting firm his book the quick and dirty guide to war has been writing about the balkans for three decades. well research military biography and with special the vince today. i'd like to start by turning the microphone over to rabin. >> thank you very much. first of all, thank you to the texas book festival. i always wanted to come to austin i look forward to coming back. [applause] [laughter] today is an extraordinary day to discuss this panel. 28 years ago i lived in beirut and was awake and october 23, 1983 by a sender's explosion. the largest non-nuclear explosion anywhere on earth since world war ii. largest loss of u.s. military life in a single incident since you do much. it was the second suicide bombing against an american targets anywhere. 241 marines lost their lives that day but in contrast, today, an unprecedented number of two nations turned out at the first free fair democratic election in the history -- . [applause] with ext

>> guest: we had a dispute over something called the iraq war. hospital lot of my life not only in the middle east but in iraq. i understood like most arabists that the arguments used to justify the invasion and occupation of iraq were not reality based. this is not a political discussion. it is the ideas that we would be greeted as liberators and there wouldn't be an insurgency, democracy would be implanted in baghdad and emanate of words across the middle east. the oil would pay for the reconstruction. these were just spun by people who have no idea what they were talking about. but to get up and say that despite the wealth of experience i had within the region and within iraq itself became deeply polarizing and i gave a commencement address that i had been saying -- came to an end when i gave a commencement address at rockford college where i was booed off the stage and had my microphone cuts. people stood up and started shouting things against the. at one point they stood up and saying god bless america. i was actually escord diplomas. they di

ending the iraq war has allowed us to strike decisive blows against our enemies. from pakistan to yemen, the al qaeda operatives who remain are scrambling, knowing they can't escape the reach of the united states. from this position of strength, we have begun to wind down the war in afghanistan. 10,000 of our troops have come home. 23,000 more will leave by the end of this summer. this transition will continue, and we will build an enduring partnership with afghanistan so it is never again a source of attacks against america. the tide of war recedes, a wave of change has washed over the northeast, from asia to trip olli. a year ago, gadhafi was one of the largest serving dockitaries, a murderer with blood on his hands. today, he's gone. i have no dowd that the asad regime will soon discover that the forces of change can not be reversed and human dignity cannot be denied. how this incredible transformation will end remains uncertain. but we have a huge stake in the outcome. and while it's ultimately up to the people of the region to decide their fate, we'll advocate

the president reviewing his jobs plan and also national security, the end of the iraq war, the killing of osama bin laden, the arab spring, plus, we are told, new proposals for housing, manufacturing, and college and, yes, he will, again, call on the wealthy to pay more taxes. among those in attendance, look for congresswoman gabrielle giffords is expected to attend tonight after announcing over the weekend she is stepping down from congress. her last event yesterday in tucson finishing that meet and greet where she was shot just over a year ago. >> tracy potts, thank you very much. nbc news will have live coverage of the president's state of the union address tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern time on this nbc station. >>> here is a look at the stories making news early today in america. >>> hours before last night's debate, presidential candidate rick santorum glitter bombed during a stop in florida. attackers yesterday stop the hate as security dragged him out. he claimed to be a part of the local open tampa movement and angry with santorum on gays' rights. >>> a dramatic rescue caught on

troops in the iraq war. >>> pain at the pump returns.about the double-digit increase. >>> and when you're in the lead, you have a target on your back. the battle mitt romney spot ,,,, ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] combine a pnc cashbuilder visa credit card with a pnc performance select checking account and get up to 1.75% cash back for just about every purchase. learn more and apply today at pnc.com/cashbuilder. pnc bank. for the achiever in you. >>> it is 4:27. 36 degrees and cloudy. hello. thanks for staying with eyewitness news. i'm denise koch. >> and i'm vic carter. here's what people are talking about. >> the gop presidential hopefuls are on the campaign trail, making their final pitch to voters. manuel gallegus reports for wjz. mitt romney still holds a solid lead, but one of his comments could shake up the race. >> reporter: a personal plea to new hampshire voters from front runner mitt romney. romney mans the phones at his headquarters in manchester, trying to lock in his double- digit lead. his rivals are fighting to the finish, using

well we saw what the sanctions on iraq did in the lead up to the iraq war and invasion and they resulted in thousands and hundreds of thousands if not millions of deaths of innocent iraqi children that starved to death you know this is the one percent i proud to be part of the occupy wall street movement right here and in new york city and i and this is the one percent of the world the ruling elite the people who own the banks the factories the oil wells and all of that and just like they're waging war on working people here in the united states they're waging war against the iranian people they're waging war against people all over the world who want to stand up against them and that's why i'm so excited about the upsurge going on my enemies are in iran my enemies are in africa or in asia my enemies are right here in new york city on wall street it's the banker elite that runs this country and it's time we stand up against them so any threat of war against iran must be strongly opposed and they continue efforts to isolate them it can only hurt the people of the world and it can only ben

>> it's a great question because many of the people returning from the war, the soldiers returning from the iraq wars, and really all wars who have been through combat, severe combat, are at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. what happens is they may return home from horrible, traumatic member of casualties, murders, being in fire fights, in incredible danger and they may not be identified, they may not be identified because they don't talk about it. they keep it to themselves. they hole themselves up a lot of times and are embarrassed by what their experiencing. >> thank you very much. we appreciate it. >>> iran says it has developed its first nuclear fuel rod. the big question, is this just the first step to nuclear weapons? general marks comes out front. >>> and your wife says she really likes farmville. what's she really doing on facebook? farmville? that's tonight's number. [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums >>> i stumbled across a story i couldn't believ

the day staging demonstrations all over san francisco. and we're showing what does happen every day in iraq and afghanistan. >> the man in the net is scott olsen. >> we're doing this for them. >> the iraq war veteran injured in october when occupy oakland demonstrators clashed with police. >> i'm not 100% yet. but i'm feeling better every day. he says he came out to stand with fellow veterans against a law they say gives the president more power to redetain terrorists. this happened in iraq and afghanistan can happen, here. and they serve formed their street theater in front of banks and government building. >>s. >> reconstruction projects had less than when saddam hussien was in power. >> when asked to respond a spokeswoman reply nod comment two. words scott else onsays are not in his vocabulary in spite of injuries. >> i'm not going to be shut off and stay home. i'm going come out. i'm going keep doing this, what i believe in. and tonight they will be joining forces to march through the city as the sun sets. we'll bring live coverage of that march right here on abc 7. live in san francisco abc 7 news. >> thank you very much and a little bit of encouraging news. california unemployment ra

for diplomacy and saying that these sanctions are really just a trajectory to war similar to the trajectory we were on with iraq are in the opposite camp but at least it's clear where where the two camps are when john bolton comes out and says this is about going to war with iran now all this is happening while another coincidence takes place right now in the water. near iran are two u.s. aircraft carriers and supposedly a third one is on the way coincidence or is there something else going on is this more than just a military exercise i don't know about the details of why those carriers were pulled in there the united states has denied that it has anything to do with the threat from iran of blocking the strait of hormuz. but i do find it hard to believe that when you have defense of fish. going on t.v. and saying we will not permit for the strait to be blocked off. that these actions don't necessarily coincide with some attempts to prevent that from happening should it escalate to that point i don't personally believe that iran would take that step but the threat has been leveled and the united states is worki

days earlier, i witnessed the end of another war one that lasted a decade and leaving 10s of thousands badly injured. a million service members were touched by the iraqed in baghdad with defense secretary leon panetta who over saw the end. he was there to end the iraq war. and back to you. and thousands of stories in studio b. and governor happy holidays. and remembering all of the big stories that we covered. and the one that first came to our mind was a triumph over tragedy and incredible support network was the story of gabby giffords. the arizona congresswoman who in tucson, arizona, outside of the supermarket was having a meet and greet that congress people do in local areas and this is one familiar to our audience and ours as well as she was shot. it seemed at the time, there was almost no way to survive that injury. we learned a lot more any what went down that day. accused jared loughner and his cab ride before he killed the judge and five people . left gabby giffords wounded to the point where we were preparing obituaries but clearly we did not know gabby giffords very well. she is live making nice progress along the way and that was an upli

ending the iraq war has allowed us to strike decisive blows against our enemies, from pakistan to yemen, the al qaeda operatives who remain are scrambling, knowing that they can't escape the reach of the united states of america. from this position of strength, we begin to wind down the war in afghanistan. 10,000 of our troops have come home. 23,000 more will leave by the end of this summer. this transition to afghan lead will continue, and we will build an enduring partnership with afghanistan so that it is never again a source of attacks against america. as the tide of war recedes, the wave of change has washed across the middle east and north africa from tunis to cairo, from sanaa to tripoli. a year ago gadhafi was one of the world's longest serving dictators, a murderer with american blood on his hands. today he is gone, and in syria i have no doubt the assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change cannot be reversed. as human dignity cannot be denied. it remains uncertain. we have a huge stake in the outcome. while it's ultimately up to the people of the region to decid