President Obama announced plans for a surge in Afghanistan on Dec. 1, saying he would add 30,000 troops to the country within six months to fight the Taliban and threats from Al Qaeda in Pakistan. But, he said, the United States would start bringing American troops home by the middle of 2011. You can read Obama's remarks here.

The New York Times has a must-read, lengthy explanation of how the Obama administration decided on the strategy. It's daunting, but definitely worth a read.

Obama's announcement left many conservatives concerned that by advocating both a surge and a withdrawal date, Obama was not giving the troops enough time to do its job. Liberals, on the other hand, said the surge was not a good use of American resources, both in money and personnel.

So what can 30,000 additional troops do in just 18 months? Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he believes the time can be used to disrupt the Taliban enough that it will be easier for Afghan security forces to contain them when the Americans leave.

Related reading:

• War in Afghanistan
• Tracking the Surge in Iraq
• Taliban Never Left Afghanistan

Photo copyright: The White House

It's not even 2010 yet, but you might want to already scratch a name off the list of Republicans running for president in 2012. Mike Huckabee may be the front runner in early polls, but he faced what is likely to be a catastrophic blow to his reputation. And it happened clear across the country.

Maurice Clemmons, the man suspected of killing four off-duty police officers in a coffee shop in Washington state - who was killed by police Tuesday morning after a two-day manhunt - had been serving a life term in an Arkansas prison when his sentence was commuted by Huckabee, then the state's governor.

Huckabee, who surprised many by winning the Iowa caucuses and outlasting most of his rivals in the 2008 GOP presidential primary, had been accused on the campaign trail of issuing too many pardons and clemencies. He was specifically criticized for releasing Wayne DuMond, a convicted rapist who raped and killed a woman less than a year after he was paroled.

But the Clemmons case has gripped the nation, and will likely haunt Huckabee if he runs in 2012. It could be his own Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who received a weekend pass while in the Massachusetts prison system and then raped a woman in Maryland and killed her husband. The case, and an ad by supporters of George H.W. Bush, helped sink then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign in 1988.

In a statement on his political website, Huckabee said Clemmons' release was "the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State."

Huckabee had been suggesting in recent days that he was less interested in another run for president, especially with the success of his show on Fox News Channel. Clemmons may have made the decision much easier for him.

You can learn more about the death penalty here, as well as statistics on the number of executions by state and method.

So what happens when you enter the White House without an invitation? That's the question many people are asking these days, after Tareq and Michaele Salahi showed up at last week's White House state dinner.

The Salahis highlighted a major lapse in Secret Service security by making it into the exclusive dinner, honoring the prime minister of India, without an invitation. Once inside, they posed for pictures with Vice President Joe Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. And they met the Obamas in the official receiving line, White House officials admit.

The big question now is whether the Salahis can be prosecuted. While they clearly were not on the list of invited guests the White House sent to the media, representatives of the Salahis contend they did not crash the party. But if they did enter the White House without authorization, they could be charged with trespassing.

And the incident is definitely going to spark a congressional review of the Secret Service and the White House Social Office, which coordinated the state dinner. Already, the House Homeland Security Committee has announced a hearing on the security breach, and they have asked the Salahis to testify.

If you're looking to check out the White House yourself someday, I'd recommend signing up for an official White House tour instead.

Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, announced on Oct. 26 that he is moving forward with a plan for healthcare reform that includes a public option, and allows for states to opt-out of the public program if they choose.

The announcement means Reid is confident he would be able to garner the 60 votes necessary to block a filibuster against the healthcare bill. There are currently 60 Democrats in the Senate, and Reid would need every one of them to vote with him to pass the legislation.

The healthcare debate has been the main issue on Congress' agenda throughout the past year. And now that several proposals have passed the House and Senate committees, it will likely move to the floors of the House and Senate in the weeks ahead.

Photo (c) Office of Sen. Harry Reid