we believe afghanistan has made major progress. as president obama said earlier this week, we broke the taliban momentum. we have trained and continued to train afghan forces and we are preparing to turn a corner in our efforts. clearly, civilian assistance represents a small percentage of the overall cost of our mission in afghanistan. it is an essential component of the national security strategy and afghanistan. as report recognizes, despite the operational challenges, we are seeing progress. >> do you contest the conclusion that once u.s. forces have pulled out in 2014 and by extension, there would be some sort of provision in the civilian presence, that the impact on the afghan economy would be such a shock that it would go into a depression? it is just not robust enough right now to stand on its own two feet. >> obviously, development assistance is a key part of the integrated civilian and military plan for success in afghanistan. what is important to recognize is there will clearly be more afghan-led efforts in the milk -- o

infrastructure in afghanistan or the u.s. foreign policy that wouldn't think two more years going to make a difference but there is an even if that's true there is a difference between that and saying there is no difference between leaving in three years and leaving all the troops in six months i mean there there there is a significant number of people the vast majority of the people within the state department and the pentagon who believe there will be a difference between what president obama is doing now and the alternative which a lot of people seem to want which is basically just pull the plug and leave immediately within three months all the troops so it's important to make that the center is not just about appeasing the pentagon as a highly before pentagon and general petraeus one ed and their guest pointed out they want to the long much longer presence in afghanistan but their reality is we have been there for ten years but for a significant portion of those ten years it was a half hearted effort because we've got thi

we won't try to make afghanistan a perfect place. we will not police its streets or patrol its mountains indefinitely. that is the responsibility of the afghan government, which must step up its ability to protect its people and move from an economy shaped by war to one that can sustain a lasting peace. what we can do, and will do, is build a partnership with the afghan people that endures. one that enshuures that we wille able to target terrorists and support a sovereign afghan government. of course, our efforts must also address terrorist safe havens in pakistan. no country is more endangered by the presence of violent extremists, which is why we will continue to press pakistan to expand its participation in securing a more peaceful future for this war-torn region. we'll work with the pakistani vernment to root out the cancer of vie leapt extremism. and we will insist that it keeps its commitments. for there sure no doubt that so long as i am president, the united states will never tolerate a safe haven for those who aim to kill us

we went in to take on and fight afghanistan -- fight in afghanistan to take on al-qaeda. what emerged was the taliban. the taliban has been our enemy from the beginning. the number alliance drove the taliban out of afghanistan. they were the ones who opened their doors to al-qaeda. six or seven months ago, some of us were critical of president karzai for having negotiations with the taliban. the word was the white house had people in that meeting and were involved in or observing negotiations. it sounds like the white house has opened the door for and perhaps has a tacit agreement that there will be a power- sharing agreement in afghanistan with the taliban. i do not want to be negotiating with our enemies. our objective was to remove them. i think that should remain the objective in afghanistan, to move the taliban from power. all taliban are -- it is not true that all of them are taliban, but what we see is there is a tribal affinity for the taliban. host: steve king is our guest, and our first call for him comes from panama city beach. alan, go ahead with your question

when instituting afghanistan's first constitution in the 1923, the king granted afghanistan's women the right to vote. by the 1960s afghan women were participate anything the country's legislature, until civil service and numerous professions. article 25 of afghanistan's 1964 constitution states the people of afghanistan without any discrimination or preferences have equal rights and obligations before the law. article 26 states, liberty is the natural right of the human being, and that the liberty and dignity of the human being are in vie la bl and inalienable. the constitution clarified in article 27 by stating that all the people of afghanistan, both men and women, without discrimination privilege have equal rights, obligations under the law. and by 1977 women composed 15% of afghanistan's legislature. and then even as late as 1987 enacted under the communist party rule they went even further stating: the citizens of the republic of afghanistan, both men and women, have equal rights and duties before the law irrespective of their national, racial, linguistic, tribal, educational, soc

now the boom in opium production in afghanistan is a high international demand and the years of war and destruction well that's the view of the afghan minister who talks to our next. we would like to start of course with the the statistics of the meat production of poppies in afghanistan i guess that is always being. at the point of the blame for the community that afghanistan is products at producing a huge amount of drugs and exporting it. to the word but can you just from your point of view what do you think i mean how to tackle these problems but. first i welcome you to afghanistan there's no doubt that the area of plantation song with narcotic crops has increased since military hostilities started in afghanistan i believe that the war was the root cause that forced afghan people to turn to poppy growing this is the source of most problems afghanistan faces today the afghan government has pledged to put an end to all be in production in the country if we study the history of drug production how it spread in afghanistan and what degree it has reached you will learn that about two hun

that's what 10 years in afghanistan has cost. it has purchased a decade without another attack on american soil from al qaeda in afghanistan. tonight, president obama told the nation the time has come to wind down the war. as with everything in afghanistan, his decision is troarl. we have four reports tonight on this turning point for america. first, chip reed at the white house. chip. >> reporter: scott, the president said 10,000 troops will be withdrawn by the end of this year, and all 33,000 surge troops will be withdrawn by september 2012. >> after this initial reduction, our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace as afghan security forces move in to the lead. our mission will change from combat to support. by 2014, this process of transition will be complete, and the afghan people will be responsible for their own security. >> pelley: he said the expedited withdrawal is made possible by success on the battle field, especially the killing of osama bin laden. >> we're starting this draw-down from a position of stren

that's where we are in afghanistan. al qaeda is tightly wound with the haqqani network and take over that government. and i'm hard-pressed if the taliban will get back to that position that they will be the host with organizations like al qaeda in the past. >> the focus again is to have enough combat power to this fighting tooth and we talked about that and the importance of getting passes to an exciting season as well. back to me is the time to bring the troops -- the surge troops out. >> atreides from another day of. i hope quite frankly they will bring more troops than what he has planned next year. binary not cutting our forces and have the next summer? what is the margin utility of having the extra 17,000 troops there that the president must bring home and the number of 15% and next to 70,000 troops by this summer. >> we undo all the gains that have occurred since he put the surge in. the strategy has absolutely no chance of succeeding. >> i know my time has expired. we obviously have tough questions in tough roads

troops from afghanistan. now, a number of sources tell cnn that the president will announce 10,000 troops will come home by the end of this year. another 20,000 would leave by the end of 2012 leaving 70,000 american forces in afghanistan as 2013 begins. >>> a pilot dodges disaster. a jumbo jet speeding for takeoff had to come to a screeching halt when an egypt aircraft turned onto the runway. at takeoff speeds the pilot would have just had seconds to react. >>> american 158 heavy. >> cancel takeoff plans. >> cancel takeoff plans. >> l>> all traffic is stopped right now. >>> in orlando prosecutors in casey anthony's murder trial reveal another odd twist. they're investigating whether anthony crossed paths with another inmate who lost a child. that inmate's story, eerily similar to the ones defense attorneys are selling about casey anthony. >> apparently her child died in a swimming pool and was found by the child's grandfather, who immediately administered cpr and called 911. >> bismarck, north dakota, is send

part of afghanistan. iran has an economic impact all across western afghanistan. the power that drives comes from iran. all of the trade that generates comes from iran. they are closer in many ways to iran the and in kabul and that's not true of the whole western corner of afghanistan so i think the u.s. has to be thoughtful of the iranian interest out there and the troop presence. the second final point would be one of the things we recommend in every part is that the u.s. were to open up trade and transit across the region the route you just described is an example of a success story that the united states is ambivalent about right now who we have at best mixed relationships with, so that is an area where we can do work to open up the time is and maybe perhaps even using the relations with iran to gain some advantages as we try to sort out what the and state in afghanistan is going to look like. >> i don't think that iran has much of their role in pakistan consideration. the lawyer agree with everything

and afghanistan but what's confusing and what's very indicative of this short term. policies of western democracies and satisfying because it's issuance is that the aims have been shifting constantly since success in winning in afghanistan has meant very different things as we've gone along in to begin with. and the americans were very much focused on counterterrorism and i south was focused on sort of can't it's when obama came into office we started talking much more about counterinsurgency petraeus and his boys brought their lessons from into afghanistan and so we switched more into a steep counterinsurgency role and now because we've had success with bin laden we switch back into counterterrorism success if there's a i think it's more indicative. to go to sam and i find it really kind of remarkable this only a few weeks ago a month ago the pentagon was saying what a success afghanistan was and now we get to bomb a speech and the details of it they're saying there's a dire need not to pull out i mean what's going on here again it's more smoke and mirrors i mean. w

mission in afghanistan. why did start to change after nine eleven even a lot of people they had no good experience happy hard foreigners they had experienced british ratio in the past but because the. innocent people american people has been killed in nine eleven tragedy they thought maybe this time they will be honest people and remove it from the power and they really need true honest helping hand but unfortunately remove the taliban brought in power to put a copy of the taliban as they are by this situation getting worse and millions of have gone by presence of can suffer thousands troops in afghanistan they step out from injustice insecurity corruption joblessness polity etc so they feel that from this situation from this occupation and now afghanistan is the second most corrupt country in the world more than sixty two million dollars saved from the so-called international community under the name of pre-construction of afghanistan and schools all fronts radials etc but most of these money went into the

could boom in opium production in afghanistan is due to high international demand and years of war and destruction that's the view of the afghan anti narcotics minister who talks to our team next. we would like to start of course with. the statistics of their production of puppies or. again is that has always been. a point of blame for the actual community that afghanistan is for that's it producing a huge amount of drugs or exporting more to the little worth but then you would just from your point of view or the other thing i mean how to will tackle these problems. first i welcome you to afghanistan there's no doubt that the area of plantation song with narcotic crops has increased since military hostilities started an afghanistan i believe that the war was the root cause that forced our count people to turn to the poppy growing this is the source of most problems are guns done faces today the afghan government has plans to put an end to all korean production in the country if we study the history of drug production how it spread in afghanistan what degree it has reached it will learn

no one wants to lose afghanistan. all of us are so mindful of the enormous sacrifices that are military men and women have made in afghanistan and the enormous amount of taxpayer dollars that have been spent. senator brown ask you a question today about what our mission is. you talked about the goal of having afghanistan be a stable state. that is certainly something that i want also. to me, that seems to be a never ending mission. i do not see how we get to a stable state in afghanistan. let me give you an example. a key to our transition in afghanistan, a key to our troops being able to come home is the development of a confident, aggressive afghan security force. we have made a lot of progress in that area. i look at the cost of maintaining the afghan security force. in this year's presidential budget request, is $12.8 billion. the total afghanistan gross domestic product is about $30 billion and 97% of afghanistan's gdp is derived from spending related to international military and donor community presence. when i

we'll hear from him tonight on afghanistan. >> good evening. nearly ten years ago america suffered the worst attack on our shores since pearl harbor. this mass murder was planned by osama bin laden and his al qaeda network in afghanistan and signaled a new threat to our security. one in which the targets were no longer soldiers on a battlefield but innocent men, women, and children going about their daily lives. in the days that followed, our nation was united as we struck at al qaeda and routed the taliban in afghanistan. then our focus shifted. a second war was launched in iraq, and we spent enormous blood and treasure to support a new government there. by the time i took office, the war in afghanistan had entered its seventh year. but al qaeda's leaders had escaped into pakistan and were plotting new attacks. while the taliban had regrouped and gone on the offensive. without a new strategy and decisive action, our military commanders warn that we could face a resurgent al qaeda and a taliban taking over large parts of afghanistan. nature rea

mission in afghanistan. why did start to change after nine eleven even a lot of people they had no good experience a happy heart about foreigners they had experience british ratio in the past but because the. thousands of innocent people american people has been killed and nine eleven tragedy they thought maybe this time they will be honest people and will remove this hell upon from their power and they really need to honest helping hand but unfortunately remove the taliban but brought in power the photocopy of the taliban as they are by this situation getting worse and millions up afghan by presence of can suffer thousands troops in afghanistan they suffer from injustice insecurity joblessness portie etc so they further from the situation from this occupation. and now afghanistan is the second most capped country and of course more than sixty two million dollars carries a story she received from the so-called international community and that the name of the construction of afghanistan is schools are funds w

they leave afghanistan as now my people they face it. enemies warlord taliban forces thank you guys who are raising the truth. will. bring you the latest in science and technology from. the future covered. in broadcasting live from the heart of moscow this is r t i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us to put your top hat on us civilians in libya feel the brunt of violence from both nato airstrikes and bombs and the pro and anti-government forces have borne the country hundreds have been killed by the western alliance while rebels and government forces have been accused of atrocities with many people fleeing for their lives after being trapped in hostile regions of the country. barack obama faces growing criticism over his plans to pull out over thirty thousand troops from afghanistan next year with some saying it's true risky and too fast but others claiming it's not swift enough and the french say they're also going to withdraw forces but skeptics of nato plan hand security over to the afghans in two thousand and fourteen. a

let me return to the topic of afghanistan. we're looking at a decision shortly that will be based on nditions on the ground but strikes me and implicit in what you say it your testimony, those conditions on the ground might be more relevant according to pakistan and afghanistan. as long as the government of pakistan at least appears to see some of these groups, these terrorist groups and their soil as strategic assets a liabilities, our operations in afghanistan are going to be very, very difficult. going to the real conditions on the ground, your comment on whether those conditions are really more about pakistan, our focus has to be there as much as afghanistan. i would include in this context some type of regional dialogue including pakistan, afghanistan, and india. what are your comments? >> i would agree with that. it is pretty clear that we cannot succeed in afghanistan if we are not succeeding in pakistan in terms of controlng the safe havens and the cross border operations. we've got to work at both in order to ensure t

pullout from afghanistan. white house officials confirmed today that he'll announce his plan tomorrow evening in a nationally televised address. >> the president and his war counselorrers hudled at the whitehouse today ahead of tomorrow night's announcesment. earlier, second of defense gates and secretary of state clinton, had nothing to say about specifics of the impending troop draw down but gates was publicly favored only a modest reduction, did say that more than just military factors are weighing on the decision. >> there are a lot of reservations in the congress about the war in afghanistan and our level of commitment. there are concerns among the american people who are tired of a deck eight -- decade of war so the president obviously has to take those matters into consideration as well as the conditions on the ground and afghanistan. >> indeed the price of that decade of war has been steep. more than 1500 americans killed and nearly half a trillion dollars spent. and polls show an increasingly weary am

in afghanistan. i think if you look at the lessons that we have learned in the past in afghanistan and iraq that the government has been very slow to apply this lesson. and i'm not sure that the implementation of afghan first is not leading to the outcomes that would make any american proud. i'm not sure that the government contractors have taken steps necessary to provide transparency and accountability that we have to demand in light of the incredible difficult decisions that we are faced with in terms of our fiscal picture in this country. this is the 10th year, and we have spent over $61 billion total already on reconstruction. the vast majority of this spending has been to contractors. defense department and usaid are primarily responsible for this. no one is totally responsible. there is no one that i can really find that wants to say i am responsible. in fact, i will be surprised if i do not hear testimony today from people who say i'm not really responsible. it is time that somebody is respon

forces in afghanistan and iraq and was commander of the u.s. central command now and he has come from a nation hearing going on right now or just about wrapping up the trails that he has passed to work on a fact his future job clearly i have views on the efforts in which i've been engaged. however if confirmed when i am in the situation room with the president i will strive to present the agency position. well we're going to talk about what is our means with a journalist and former cia officer jack rice. hey hey guys act on i'm going to start out by asking you what do you think general david petraeus brings to the table going for the cia well it's basically it is incredible about experience and on the ground experience here today huge change time over the last ten years really the experience that the military has had that has impacted all of those men and women who get involved he brings that to the table in a sense that's good but there is a negative that can generally come with that and that's the fact that you see just sort of who are you kn

ambassador to afghanistan. ryan crocker, a man and stellar record of service to seize an and speaks for himself. i joined the committee and recognize two members of his family who are joining him today, his niece, catherine, and the dedicated woman that is then by his side ever since they were young officers working together in baghdad, ryan's wife christine. i understand the challenges of being a foreign service as koppell, and i know that ryan could not have enjoyed many successes atop the support of christine. they make the task of introducing ambassador crocker quite easy. the u.s. senate has had the wisdom to approve him to the post five times already in lebanon, kuwait, syria, pakistan, and iraq, and this is only a fraction of ambassador crocker's story. when the u.s. embassy in beirut was bombed, ryan crocker was a young officer who helped pull colleagues from the rubble. when the united states needed to reopen our missing afghanistan after the taliban was driven from power, the secretary of state sent r

garrison from afghanistan. support. thirty thousand troops by the end of next year france now says it's also prepared to pull all of its forces. but the. progress against that is fragile and reversible seventy thousand u.s. troops are set to remain in afghanistan with a complete promise to take place twenty fourteen the u.s. has been trying to convince congress that. is the right approach to winning the war . has this report. hillary clinton faced the difficult task and that is to justify the billions of u.s. taxpayers dollars on the war that seems to have no and inside and there was a great deal of skepticism among the senators even amid the announced withdrawal of troops in afghanistan so the secretary of state had to focus on podhoretz accomplished and there and did she mention the killing of key al qaeda members also that as she said the u.s. has broken the taliban momentum although various reports on the ground suggest the insurgency is not really subsiding there and some even say growing among the afghans the syst

mission in afghanistan. why did the story to change after nine eleven even a lot of people they had no good experience happy hard about foreigners they had experienced british aggression in the past but because. thousands of innocent people american people have been killed and nine eleven thought maybe this time they will be on this country of. removed from power and they really need to honest helping hand but unfortunately remove the taliban by brought in power to photocopy of the taliban as they do by this situation getting worse and millions of afghans by presence of consumption thousands troops in afghanistan they start part from injustice the insecurity of corruption joblessness quality etc so they further from this situation from this occupation and now afghanistan is the second most corrupt country in the whole more than sixty two million dollars carless delusion received from the so-called international community and the name of the construction of christ and schools of funds where it's a trial but m

troops from afghanistan by late next year. on the "newshour", defense secretary gates said he thinks and key republicans pulled out of deficit reduction talks led by vice president biden. they blamed democrats for demanding tax hikes. and to hari sreenivasan for what's on the ewshour" online. hari? >> sreenivasan: ray suarez reports from indonesia on the condition of many mentally ill patients he saw confined in cages without proper treatment, and misunderstood by society. as part of our "patchwork nation" collaboration, dante chinni looks at public perceptions of the troop drawdown in afghanistan. spencer michels has a blog post on how californians view their state legislature. and, on our health page, a new study found that obesity in babies often leads to obesity in adulthood. we provide tips from experts for raising a healthy baby. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. we'll see you online and aga

we won't try to make afghanistan a perfect place. we will not police its streets or patrol its mountains indefinitely. that is the responsibility of the afghan government which must step up its ability to protect its people and move from an economy shaped by war to one that can sustain a lasting peace. what we can do and will do is build a partnership with the afghan people that endures, one that ensures we will be able to continue targeting terrorists and supporting a sovereign afghan government. of course, our efforts must also address terrorist safe havens in pakistan. no country is more endangered by the presence of violent extremists, which is why we will continue to press pakistan to expand its participation in securing a more peaceful future for this war-torn region. we'll work with the pakistani government to root out the cancerous violence extremism, and will insist that it keeps its commitment for there should be no doubt, as long as i am president, the united states will never tolerate a safe haven for those hoaim to kill

i >>> tonight, from afghanistan, this is a special edition of "world news." mission: afghanistan. are we winning? the question we put to the secretary of defense and the top commander on the ground. gates and petraeus together for the first time. how can the u.s. afford $10 billion a month for the war? and when can the troops come home? and a message to you from the children of afghanistan. >>> and back here at home tonight, breaking news. a stunning about-face for democratic congressman anthony weiner. he now admits that he had inappropriate online exchanges with six women and lied about it. tonight, you'll see the one whose interview with abc news triggered the admission and apologies. >>> good evening to you tonight from afghanistan, where this is a big moment in the history of this conflict, the ten-year war, the longest in america's history. at the white house today, the president held a meeting to talk about the beginning of the exit. how many of the 100,000 troops currently stationed here should be brought home, and all of this amid the continuing clamor from congress to ac

military involvement in afghanistan now sources tell c.n.n. that the president will announce ten thousand american troops will be coming home by the end of this year three months our troops will begin to come home tonight president obama's planning to make good on the promise he made in december two thousand and nine years of debate over iraq and terrorism have left our unity on national security issues in tatters over the cost is enormous congressman hunter as you know but the argument is that if you draw down too quickly and you walk away from it now that everything we've spent so far especially the lives that have been given. that becomes a waste. you know i'm not kidding for some of these people it actually seems like they just woke up from a ten year long slumber and realized hey we're in a war and we're really you know when it might have been a good idea to start asking questions as to whether or not the money spent the lives lost or worth it i don't know how about any time after two thousand and one when the taliban actually fell for a

at afghanistan needs to change. our role in afghanistan needs to change. we can talk about the military aspects and the fact that we are drifting toward a redeployment of our combat troops starting in the next month or two. we expect that we might be able to accelerate that considering the current status of terrorist organizations operating in the region. having said that, i want to concentrate on the other part of our role, we also had an effort to provide economic assistance to the people of afghanistan. i know you recently got a report commissioned by this committee. let me share with you some observations that should not be a surprise. it is critical of the efficiency of the deliverance of our aid to accomplish any long term economic stability for the people of afghanistan. the questions as to whether we are operating with a leadership team in afghanistan that can deliver the type of economic promise to the people. we are creating an arbitrary economic activity based upon a war economy that will not be sustainable. the we are creating an inflationary s

forces in afghanistan. a senior official told cnn that the president will announce he is ordering the withdrawal of all 33,000 surge forces in afghanistan by the end of the next summer, 2012. that is sooner than a lot of people believed. let's go straight to brianna keilar. you and other reporters at the white house have been getting briefings. what do you hear? >> reporter: from that senior official, here's the break down on pulling out all 3,000 of the surge troops by the end of the year. 10,000 out by the end of 2011 and the remaining 23,000 surge troops would be out no later than september 2012. keep manage mind that still leaves a significant number of u.s. troops, about 70,000 in afghanistan until 2014, but this is quicker than initial reports that we were hearing and you should expect tonight when the president addresses the nation that he will be justifying these drawdown numbers by touting successes that whout officials have been framing like this and they made significant strides in diminishing al

has increased since military hostilities started in afghanistan i believe that the war was the root cause that forced afghan people to turn to poppy growing this is the source of most problems afghanistan faces today the afghan government has plans to put an end to opium production in the country if we study the history of drug production how it spread in afghanistan and what degree it has reached here we learned a little two hundred fifteen hectares of farmland contain poppy crops but thanks to the efforts of the democratic afghan government which i consider to be quite successful we've managed to cut that area to one hundred thirty hector's this year the government intends to further reduce the earlier song with poppies so as to fully meet its commitment to destroy poppy cultivation but we will be unable to solve this problem once and for all on our own we will need people support in other words we should not be focused only on the question of poppy cultivation it's an international problem and not just the problem of growing poppies in afghanistan for example we realize the poppi

afghanistan was a lot more austere, harsher. the enemy was a lot more bold, more bad stuff. >> reporter: one patrol. matthews and his squad were face down in the dirt, pinned down by taliban fighters, his platoon sergeant and friend, matt blair was next to him and took a bullet to the head. he survived, but -- >> for that split second that i thought he was dead it was traumatic and i held that with me. >> at some point, you have to go back to those feelings that you've put aside and bring them back to the front and process them. >> i know it's not reality. i know i'm not there but you still get that, that rush of feeling inside of you. >> reporter: over and over, matthews repeated his story in five 90-minute sessions. >> god, man, that is a terrible feeling. >> reporter: and made peace with his combat memories. >> you want to be a big hot shot and you think that you understand what's going on, that you can do it yourself but sometimes you really got to just suck it up and go get the therapy. >> reporter: mark strassmann, cbs new

afghanistan has a constitution. afghanistan has a state structure. those who join the peace process must respect the afghan constitution and the constitution does not allow that. >> why has it proved so difficult to bring the taliban in? is it that there is no central group, no central address or leader that you could gosh crate with? what seems to be the obstacle? >> there are forces beyond the means of afghanistan that are interfering in this process that have power over the process. unless those forces begin to cooperate, the taliban will not be able to come forward as a group, as a unified structure. >> is pakistan the key there? >> pakistan is extremely important for a quick solution, yes. >> mr. president, i remember the many public disputes that you and president new share he have used to have and you why issed that they were in pakistan. i denied it. you once said to me when osama bin laden is found, he will be found in a pakistani city. it turns out you were right about osama. did you still believe the leadership of al qaeda and the taliban

ambassador to afghanistan. ryan crocker, a man who's still a record of service precedes him and speaks for itself. obviously i join the committee in recognizing to members of ambassador crocker's family joining him today. his niece, cameron, and of course the dedicated woman who has been by his side ever since they were young foreign service officers working together in baghdad in 1979. rollin and's wife, christine. understand the challenges of being a foreign service couple and i know that ryan could never have enjoyed the many successes without the support of christine. those successes make the task of introducing ambassador crocker quite easy. the u.s. senate has had the wisdom to confirm him to the post of ambassador as the chairman pointed out five times already. lebanon, kuwait, syria, pakistan and iraq, and this is only a fraction of ambassador crocker's story. when the u.s. embassy in beirut was bombed, ryan crocker was a young officer with wounded colleagues from the rubble. the united states needed to