Cheat Sheet

Though no definite plans have been set forth, the still-to-be-determined strategy for Afghanistan will include careful consideration of troop withdrawal once the area has been stabilized, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. Gibbs spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday, en route to Alaska before continuing on to Asia, emphasizing that Afghanistan is a not a forever war. “It’s important to fully examine not just how we’re going to get folks in, but how we’re going to get folks out,” he said, adding that President Obama will not commit to an "open-ended conflict." Obama continues to seek advice and counsel regarding the next step on Afghanistan, though Gibbs predicted that a decision would be coming sooner rather than later.

We have details! In her new memoir, Going Rogue, Sarah Palin says that Sen. John McCain's aides kept her “bottled up,” that Katie Couric was “badgering” and biased, and that Charlie Gibson wasn’t interested in “substantive issues.” Palin claims that she went on as a favor and that Couric suffers from low self-esteem. She also complains that the McCain campaign charged her $50,000 for the vetting she received. According to the Associated Press, “she was told McCain’s camp would have paid all the bills if he’d won; since he lost, the vetting legal bills were her responsibility.”

Embattled White House Counsel Gregory Craig will announce his departure as early as Friday. Craig had struggled to lead the effort to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, which Barack Obama had promised to do within a year of being sworn into office. He will be replaced by Bob Bauer, the president’s personal attorney. Dissatisfaction over Craig’s management of Guantanamo policy had been stewing for months, and the change was expected.

Federal prosecutors seized four Shiite Muslim mosques and a 36-story New York skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization with suspected ties to the Iranian government Thursday. The Alavi Foundation, which is part of the alleged front company Assa Corp., is being asked to forfeit all of their U.S. properties, totaling $500 million in assets. The foundation is being accused of laundering money back to Iran's state-owned Bank Melli, with which the U.S. has outlawed doing business because of its suspected role in Iran's nuclear program. The foundation provides imprisoned Muslims in the U.S. with educational literature and support for Iranian academics. There are few instances in U.S. history in which a religious place of worship has been seized, because of the First Amendment right to religious freedom.

Italian officials have arrested 17 Algerians who were part of a "significant" international terrorist cell. The members, spread throughout Italy and Europe, allegedly raised approximately $1.5 million for terrorist activities outside of Europe. For the past three years the group had burlarized and commited theft to raise the funds, which were intended to be funneled to Algeria. The arrested had also made contact with North Africans who are under investigation by European countries. An Italian official that the group had been "dismantled."

A 26-year-old German citizen allegedly demanded $100,000 from Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber, claiming that he had a "sexy photograph" of the couple's 7-year-old daughter. Edis Kayalar said he stole the photo from a former nanny and wanted to return it to the parents so it wouldn't fall into the hands of the tabloids. He then turned around and threatened to sell the photo to the media if the couple wouldn't pay up. Court documents state that Kayalar claimed the photo exposed Crawford's daughter "in revealing clothing, bound to a chair and gagged." Kayalar was indicted Thursday, and the couple are making sure the photograph doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

Pakistan's main spy agency, which oversees counterterrorism in the border regions of Afghanistan, was bombed Friday. An Associated Press reporter on the scene says there were at least eight wounded or dead. The blast knocked down most of the building, which is located in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The area is a militant hub and has been the target of a series of attacks on security forces and civilians since Pakistan stepped up its national-security offensive. Since mid-October, Pakistan has heightened watch over the South Waziristan area, where the Taliban has a stronghold.

What up with this, Michael Steele? Politico is reporting that the insurance plan that the Republican National Committee offers its employees covers abortions, which the GOP platform calls “a fundamental assault on innocent human life.”  In all, 176 House Republicans voted last week with 64 Democrats for the Stupak amendment to the health-care bill, which would prohibit federal funds from being used by individuals to purchase plans that cover abortions. According to an RNC spokeswoman, “The current policy has been in effect since 1991, and we are taking steps to address the issue.”

American journalist Euna Lee is set to write her own account of the 140 days she was detained by North Korean officials. Lee, who is a producer for Al Gore's Current TV, was arrested with fellow journalist Laura Ling on March 17 at the border between China and North Korea. They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for hostilities toward North Korea, but were pardoned following a visit from former president Bill Clinton. Neither Lee nor Ling has spoken extensively about her time as a captive yet. Lee's book will be titled The World Is Bigger Now: A Memoir of Faith, Family and Freedom. Ling is also pitching a book, with sister and journalist Lisa Ling.

Former President Bush cannot, apparently, spot the contradiction. “I went against my free-market instincts and approved a temporary government intervention to unfreeze the credit marks so that we could avoid a major global depression,” Bush said at the unveiling of he George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, before going on to say that “History shows that the greater threat to prosperity is not too little government involvement, but too much.” He went on to warn the world against “the temptation to replace the risk and reward model of the private sector with the blunt instruments of government spending and control.”