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Report: Obama gives orders on Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama gave the green light to military commanders to implement his strategy in Afghanistan, the White House said Monday.

Obama is expected to announce the deployment of 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan when he unveils his plan to the nation Tuesday during a prime-time address from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. However, a White House official declined to confirm that number to The Hill Monday.

Obama delivered the orders during a meeting Sunday with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, U.S. Central Command commander Gen. David Petraeus, national security adviser Gen. James Jones, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen. James Cartwright and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

"The commander in chief delivered the orders," Gibbs said.

Obama also had a secure video conference with Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, and Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Gibbs said.

Obama and other high-level administration officials would discuss the strategy with U.S. and world leaders through Tuesday before he delivers his remarks, Gibbs said.

Gibbs said Obama also would reiterate "this is not an open-ended commitment; that we are there to partner with the Afghans, to train the Afghan national security forces, the army and the police, so that they can provide security for their country and wage a battle against an unpopular insurgency in that country."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government will be expected to step up as a partner, Gibbs said.

"(We) have to have a partner that can identify, recruit, retain a security force and a police force that are able to take improved security -- an improved security environment and eventually hold that area," Gibbs said of Obama's likely comments. "Ultimately, the strategy will be to transfer the security responsibility of an area to the Afghans."

Obama also would address Pakistan, Gibbs said.

"I think you can anticipate that a good portion of the president's speech tomorrow will discuss our relationship with Pakistan and touch on ... a renewed engagement diplomatically with the Pakistanis ... to jointly address violent extremism," Gibbs said.

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Police search homeless hangout for killer

LAKEWOOD, Wash., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Police searched an area near Seattle's Dr. Jose Rizal Park Monday, looking for the suspect in the shooting deaths of four police officers, officials said.

Police moved their search for Maurice Clemmons to an area known as a commune for the homeless known as "The Jungle" after calling off a search near the University of Washington Medical Center once they learned a matter of mistaken identity prompted the medical center sweep, officials told The Seattle Times.

Four officers were shot and killed Sunday morning as they worked on their laptops at Forza Coffee Co., a coffee shop popular with police in Parkland, about 40 miles from Seattle. The two officers shot were "flat-out executed," and the other others died trying to stop the suspect, Pierce County, Wash., sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

The victims were identified as Sgt. Mark Renninger, and officers Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold and Gregory Richards.

An arrest warrant charging Clemmons with four counts of first-degree murder was issued, Pierce County Sheriff's Office, the lead investigating agency, said in a statement posted on the county's Web site.

Clemmons "has a gunshot wound and is armed," a sheriff's office release said. "Suspect knows law enforcement is looking for him and should be considered dangerous."

A $125,000 reward was posted by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Crime Stoppers, the sheriff's department said.

Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar said the four officers who died were original members of the community's police force that was founded in 2004.

"They were good people. they were great officers and we will miss them very much," Farrar said during a news conference.

Motioning to the police officers and city officials behind him, Farrar said the department was coping by being on the job and "working hard. ... There's no doubt in my mind that this person will be brought to justice."

Lakewood Mayor Douglas G. Richardson said officials' priorities were to comfort the families of the victims as well as the police department "and the pursuit of the individual responsible for this heinous crime."

Clemmons, who has a lengthy criminal history in Arkansas and Washington, was released from jail in Pierce County a week ago. He was facing a charge of raping a child, the Times said. Family members described him as being in a deteriorating mental state.

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Huckabee gave clemency to alleged killer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee pardoned the man wanted in Washington state for the shooting deaths of Seattle-area police officers, papers show.

Huckabee, a folksy conservative who some think may take another run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, granted clemency to 37-year-old Maurice Clemmons nine years ago, The Hill reported.

Clemmons is the main suspect in the shooting of four Lakewood, Wash., police officers as they sat in a coffee shop Sunday.

In a statement released Sunday, Huckabee called the incident "a horrible and tragic event."

If Clemmons is responsible for the shootings, "it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state," the former governor said, adding Clemmons' release also was approved by the Arkansas parole board.

In 1990, a then-18-year-old Clemmons was convicted of burglary and theft of property and sentenced to 60 years in prison, the Washington publication reported. He was released after serving 11 years of his burglary sentence.

The Hill also reported Huckabee's former Wikipedia page was edited to include angry remarks about his award of clemency to Clemmons.

Huckabee, who has been criticized for his action, "will forever be known as the idiot who released the cop killer Maurice Clemmons. He was serving a 35-year sentence for armed robbery; the idiot released him after 9 years," an unidentified poster wrote.

The commentary has been removed from Huckabee's page and the notice, "Editing of this article by new or unregistered users is currently disabled," was posted. Any Internet user can edit or write Wikipedia entries.

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Court bars release of detainee abuse pics

WASHINGTON, Calif., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday threw out a lower-court ruling that would have forced the release of photos of alleged detainee abuse by the U.S. military.

A federal appeals court in New York had ordered the Pentagon in 2008 to release the scores of photos of alleged prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to acquire the photos, and won its case at trial and in the appeals court.

But Congress enacted a law allowing the secretary of defense to exempt the photos from FOIA. The Obama administration, after first saying it supported making the photos public, later said it feared releasing the pictures might endanger U.S. troops overseas.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates cited the new FOIA exemption earlier in November, and the U.S. Supreme Court Monday, as expected, ordered the case sent back down to the New York appeals court for a new verdict in light of the new law and Gates' action.

"We continue to believe that the photos should be released, and we intend to press that case in the lower court," ACLU Legal Director Steven Shapiro said in a statement. "No democracy has ever been made stronger by suppressing evidence of its own misconduct."

Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project, said, "We continue to believe that the Defense Department's suppression of these photos is both unlawful and unwise, and that there is a strong public interest in the photos' release."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who earlier sat on the federal appeals court in New York but did not participate in the case, did not vote on the case at the Supreme Court level, but gave no explanation.

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ElBaradei steps down as IAEA chief

VIENNA, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Mohamed ElBaradei stepped down Monday as the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, urging his colleagues to "carry forward the torch."

ElBaradei, who will be replaced by Yukiya Amano, led the IAEA for three terms -- 12 years -- after taking over from Hans Blix. He urged IAEA staffers a brief assembly at the Vienna International Center to carry forward the torch" and to sustain their "100 percent commitment" to preserving and expanding peace, freedom, justice, and human dignity, the agency said in a release.

"The moment of departure is an opportunity to reflect upon a journey of joy, challenges, pleasure and fulfillment," ElBaradei said. "It is a feeling of gratitude to be leaving at a moment when the agency has reached such prominence in contributing to international security and development."

ElBaradei famously clashed with the Bush administration and also was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. The Times of London, at the time, termed the award a "slap in the face of the United States" and called ElBaradei "a failure."

The agency's dealing with Iran during ElBaradei's tenure is perhaps the most notable aspect of the period.