SAN DIEGO A decorated Marine veteran famously photographed smoking a cigar after the fall of Baghdad is running for Congress in California's most southern district.

WASHINGTON A law enforcement official says a terrorism task force did not refer early information about the Fort Hood shooting suspect to superiors because they concluded he wasn't linked to terrorism.

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON A group of doctors overseeing Nidal Malik Hasan's medical training discussed concerns about his overly zealous religious views and strange behavior months before the Army major was accused of opening fire on soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood, Texas.

WASHINGTON The White House says President Obama spent more than two hours with his war council talking about how long it would take to implement various strategies he has been presented.

WASHINGTON A man from Tajikistan seeking his freedom from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is challenging a practice among federal judges here who are short-circuiting the cases of some long-time detainees.

WASHINGTON Abortion rights supporters in Congress are asking President Barack Obama for a meeting next week on abortion restrictions included in the House health care bill.

ARLINGTON, Va. On a cold, rain-soaked Veterans Day, President Barack Obama walked slowly through the white, stone markers at the section of Arlington National Cemetery reserved for troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the two wars he oversees as commander in chief.

WASHINGTON Disputing an assertion by the top U.S. general in Iraq, Syria's ambassador to Washington on Wednesday denied that his government allows foreign fighters to cross the Syrian border into Iraq.

WASHINGTON First lady Michelle Obama said on Wednesday that many veterans serve their communities and nation in ways that "make their entire life a tour of duty."

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison by Jan. 22 was followed by a series of mistakes and missteps by his administration that will delay the prison's closure for months, according to a report from a policy organization with close ties to the White House.

WASHINGTON The commander of the U.S. Central Command says a decision is near on sending more American forces to Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON Vice President Joe Biden says it is the "sacred duty" of the United States to provide for active-duty members of the military as well as care for their families.

Since the resumption of capital punishment in 1977 after a roughly 10-year hiatus, only three men have been put to death by the federal government, all for murder and all in the civilian justice system. The last military execution was in 1961.

WASHINGTON Though the suspect in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood could face the death penalty, he will be prosecuted in a military justice system where no one has been executed in nearly a half-century.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Jerry Brown hasn't formally announced for his old job, but the signs show he once again has his eye on the California governor's chair.

WASHINGTON Much like its death-defying dives for fish, the brown pelican has resurfaced after plummeting to the brink of extinction.

WASHINGTON Dozens of volunteers and passers-by are stopping by an American Red Cross building on Veterans Day to sign holiday greetings cards for U.S soldiers around the world and veterans.

WASHINGTON John J. O'Connor III, the husband of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, has died.

WASHINGTON Julie Hirschfeld Davis, who covers Capitol Hill for The Associated Press, has won the National Press Foundation's 2009 Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress by a print reporter.

A look at key issues in the health care debate:

WASHINGTON Veterans Secretary Eric Shinseki says he's working to improve the agency's ability to cope with increasing numbers of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems.

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, host a Veterans Day breakfast in the East Room before traveling to Arlington National Cemetery.

WASHINGTON Far from winding down, the numbers of U.S. soldiers coming home wounded have continued to swell. The problem is especially acute among those fighting in Afghanistan, where nearly four times as many troops were injured in October as a year ago.

WASHINGTON United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Senate Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday and urged them to save international climate talks next month by speeding up work on a climate and energy bill.

WASHINGTON An American Muslim who was captured while fleeing Somalia in 2007 accused two FBI agents and two other U.S. officials Tuesday of illegally interrogating him and threatening torture while he was allegedly held at U.S. behest in Kenyan and Ethiopian jails.

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama is considering four options for realigning U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, his spokesman said Tuesday, while military officials said the choices involve several ways the president could employ additional U.S. forces next year.

WASHINGTON A key Senate committee chairman unveiled a sweeping 1,136-page bill Tuesday that, if enacted, would mandate the most comprehensive overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression.

WASHINGTON Hundreds of residents who were evacuated from Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina destroyed it are looking at their last Veteran's Day in Washington.

WASHINGTON A group of doctors overseeing Nidal Milak Hasan's medical training discussed concerns about his overly zealous religious views and strange behavior months before the Army major was accused of opening fire on soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood, Texas.

HARTFORD, Conn. Connecticut Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell's decision not to seek re-election could create big political drama in a small state, where Democrats hope to reclaim the governor's mansion for the first time in nearly two decades while keeping embattled Sen. Christopher Dodd in office.

WASHINGTON Love her or hate her, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is at the peak of her political power, and she seems to be reveling in the high drama of the moment.

WASHINGTON Senate Democrats, struggling to reach agreement on how to overhaul the country's health care system, got some practical political advice Tuesday from former President Bill Clinton, whose own effort collapsed 15 years ago.

Text of President Barack Obama's remarks Tuesday during a memorial service at Fort Hood, Texas, as transcribed by the White House:

WASHINGTON A New Jersey man alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday that U.S. officials were responsible for falsely imprisoning him for several months in Africa on suspicion of having ties to al-Qaida.

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama still has the approval of a majority of Americans, but it's an increasingly pessimistic nation.

(EDITORS: Following is an unedited letter to the editor in response to McClatchy Newspapers' series on Goldman Sachs from the company's chief spokesman, followed by a brief editor's note. We urge all MCT clients who posted or printed the series to post or print Goldman's response and the accompanying editor's note.)

WASHINGTON The Pentagon says a small shipment of swine flu vaccine has arrived at the Guantanamo Bay military prison. It's unlikely any of the terror detainees held there will get any of the sought-after vaccine now.

WASHINGTON U.S. officials say a Pentagon worker on a terrorism task force looked into Fort Hood shooting suspect Nidal Hasan's background months ago, and concluded he did not merit further investigation.

SINGAPORE The Obama administration will nominate a young former executive with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to run America's top foreign assistance program, ending months of speculation and complaints about who would take the vacant post, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE The White House says President Barack Obama has narrowed down his decision for an Afghanistan strategy to four options.

WASHINGTON The White House on Tuesday shuffled its communications team, with Anita Dunn stepping down as expected and her deputy taking over day-to-day management of President Barack Obama's vaunted messaging machine.

A look at key issues in the health care debate:

FORT HOOD, Texas Somberly reciting 13 names and 13 stories, President Barack Obama saluted the Americans killed at this Army post as heroes who died for their country - and promised a nation demanding answers that "the killer will be met with justice."

WASHINGTON Poor Bill Yosses. He's the White House pastry chef. He makes desserts for a living.

White House pastry chef Bill Yosses' light, flaky pie crusts have earned him the nickname "The Crustmaster" from President Barack Obama. His trick to making fruit pies worthy of a president is to bake the bottom crust first, then fill and top the pie and bake it again.

WASHINGTON A senior U.S. diplomat will travel to North Korea before year's end to try to pull the Koreans back into international negotiations on nuclear disarmament, the State Department said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON Former President Bill Clinton plans to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to discuss health care legislation with Senate Democrats.

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama said Monday that he'd be willing to attend an international climate summit in Copenhagen next month if it appears a deal is in the offing and his presence there would help clinch it.

WASHINGTON A federal judge has taken the rare step of ordering self-described anti-terrorism investigator Paul David Gaubatz to remove from his Web site some of the 12,000 documents that his son allegedly stole from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.