War_Conflict

20111222-212736-pic-959848503.jpg

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko prepares to testify on Capitol Hill on Thursday before a Senate Clean Air and Nuclear Safety subcommittee hearing. He said the newly approved design would ensure safety through simplified security functions and other features. He also said plants using the design could withstand damage from an airplane crash without significant release of radioactive materials - an issue that gained attention after the 2001 terrorist attacks. (Associated Press)

20111222-204019-pic-628066317.jpg

Iraqi security forces inspect a crater created by a car-bomb attack in the neighborhood of Karrada in Baghdad. A series of blasts Thursday morning killed or wounded scores of people in coordinated explosions designed to wreak havoc in the capital. The last U.S. combat troops left the country on Sunday. (Associated Press)

CHRISTMAS_9107

David Ingram (left) of Jacksonville, Fla., and his son Ty look at the Christmas tree in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. Mr. Ingram, a retired U.S. Army Reserve member, said, "This is my generation ... it just amazes me how many people died." (T.J. Kirkpatrick/The Washington Times)

CHRISTMAS_9087

Santa makes his rounds and meets with Union soldiers with Brady's Michigan Sharpshooters during the Civil War-era Christmas event called "Christmas in Camp" at Fort Ward in Alexandria on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011. This holiday event, which explores how Christmas was observed during the Civil War, features living-history interpreters, a Victorian Christmas tree, period music and a Santa Claus from the 1860s. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

IRAQ.jpg

Iraqi security forces and people inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. A series of blasts Thursday morning in Baghdad killing and wounding scores of people in a coordinated attack designed to wreak havoc across the Iraqi capital. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

20111221-194916-pic-985771061.jpg

Martha Mahlangu cries as she talks about her late son, Solomon, an anti-apartheid guerrilla who was hanged on April 6, 1979. (Associated Press)

20111221-194905-pic-570409664.jpg

ENERGY SAVER: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II reportedly turns off lights in unoccupied areas of the vast Buckingham Palace. Posted notices urge staff to do the same. There are no plans to rent out the palace, however.

TREE-006web-1.jpg

Selena Hajiani, at center, with William Hynes, both of Albany, N.Y., holds an ornament with a photograph of a soldier who went missing in the Vietnam War, on the Christmas tree at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 21, 2011. (T.J. Kirkpatrick/ The Washington Times)

CHEN.jpg

** FILE ** This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Army shows Pvt. Danny Chen, 19, who was killed Monday, Oct. 3, 2011, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/U.S. Army, File) (AP Photo/U.S. Army, File)

20111220-190800-pic-686183156.jpg

Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano (riding fifth horse from left) tours the U.S.-Mexico border with Border Patrol agents in the Coronado National Forest near Nogales, Ariz., in October. Starting in January, the force of 1,200 National Guard troops at the border will be reduced to fewer than 300 at a cost of about $60 million. (Associated Press)

20111220-173624-pic-854520935.jpg

Kevin Harpham has pleaded guilty in connection with a plan to detonate a bomb at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane, Wash., on Jan. 17. (Associated Press)

Mideast Egypt_Lea.jpg

Egyptian women angered by recent violence leveled against them in clashes between army soldiers and protesters demonstrate in Cairo on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. One protester carries a poster that reads in English: "Down with military rule, Military are liars and We will cut your hand." (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

MEHANNA.jpg

** FILE ** This Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009, file booking photo provided by the Sudbury, Mass., Police Department shows Tarek Mehanna, of Sudbury, after he was arrested and charged with conspiring to plot terror attacks. The jury found him guilty, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011, on four terror-related charges and three charges of lying to authorities after deliberating for about 10 hours. (AP Photo/Sudbury Police Department, File)

IRAQ.jpg

** FILE ** In this Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, file photo, Iraq's vice President Tariq al-Hashemi speaks during a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)

20111219-203831-pic-135589753.jpg

An Egyptian man chants slogans denouncing military rule in Cairo's Tahrir Square. At least three people were killed during a military sweep early Monday, pushing the death toll from four days of street clashes to at least 14. (Associated Press)

20111219-203831-pic-79457446.jpg

Egyptians stand on a barrier set up by the military to separate army troops from demonstrators near Tahrir Square in Cairo. Hundreds of soldiers in riot gear swept through the square early Monday and opened fire on protesters who demanded an immediate end to military rule. (Associated Press)

20111219-194742-pic-511363965.jpg

Some of the firearms confiscated in a yearlong undercover investigation that resulted in the arrests of 70 suspects were put on display at Metropolitan Police Department headquarters Monday in the District by Chief Cathy L. Lanier. (T.J. Kirkpatrick/The Washington Times)