National Security Brief: February 28, 2012

– The U.N. withdrew its staff in northeastern Afghanistan because of safety concerns after protesters there, sparked by a Koran-burning incident laid siege to the offices.

– Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) plans to introduce a bill that would bar private security contractors and Afghans from guarding U.S. military installations as the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan winds down.

– Under pressure from the Israeli government, the U.S. is considering clarifying its “red line” with Iran, referring to the threshold of Iranian actions that would cause the U.S. to take military action.

– Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that neither the U.S., nor Israel, can stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon if it decides to do so. “The intellectual capital still exists. We could certainly bomb the place, but we don’t know where everything is with any kind of certainty,” he said.

– An American intelligence official said that the Israelis would not warn the U.S. if it decided to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

– Ninety percent of Syrians reportedly approved a new Constitution. Western leaders and opposition figures called the referendum a farce.

– A Syrian opposition group reported finding a mass grave with 64 bodies on the outskirts of the embattled city of Homs as the top U.N. rights official reiterated calls for a ceasefire and eventual international tribunals ahead of a vote at the Human Rights Council.

– Qatar?s prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani said yesterday that he supports arming the Syrian opposition movement. “We should do whatever necessary to help them, including giving them weapons to defend themselves,” he said.

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