Mission accomplished? Sort of. Al Qaeda is largely out of Afghanistan - although it's doing fairly well in other countries. The Taliban is now in negotiations with the government of Afghanistan. And Osama bin Laden has been found and killed.
And as our Jim Dolan pointed out on Eyewitness News at 11 last night, the successes in the war on terror these days are due less to the troops than to the unmanned drones that are laying waste to Al Qaeda camps and hideouts.
So - how many troops will Pres. Obama say he'll start withdrawing next month? Early word is 5,000 right off the bat. Another 5,000 by year's end. And the remaining 20,000 from Mr. Obama's "surge" last year by the end of next summer. Which means right after the Democratic convention where Mr. Obama will be nominated for a second term, and right before the next Presidential election.
The Pentagon was worried Mr. Obama would want too many troops out; many American taxpayers worried he would want too few.
Where does this plan put everything? Jim is covering the President's primetime speech for us, and he'll have reaction and the latest, tonight at 11.
Also at 11, we're following developments in the Long Island town of Medford, where there's been an arrest in connection with those execution-style killings during a pharmacy robbery. This on the day that wakes begin for two of the four victims. Long Island reporter Josh Einiger and Jeff Pegues are in Medford for us.
And our political reporter Dave Evans is in Albany, waiting for a vote on legalizing same-sex marriage. Or not.
The measure is one vote short of getting approved, but no State Senator who has been against it - which is to say a Republican State Senator - has yet to raise a hand to switch votes. So right now this long-awaited vote seems a tad stalled. Much to the chagrin of thousands of gay and lesbian couples who wanted to get married but can't. And the economic impact - $184 million a year from same-sex marriages - hangs over this deficit-drenched state.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg has his AccuWeather forecast, which includes some storms moving through our area today, and Laura Behnke (in for Rob Powers) with the night's sports.
I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
