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POLITICO, “Iraq outlook looks dim after pullout,” by Joel Brinkley: “Some Sunni leaders, under sometimes lethal pressure from the Shiite-controlled government, have begun talking about breaking away from Baghdad and creating their own state. That has started talk of a possible civil war. And in the past week alone, about 70 people have died in bombings and other attacks. But no one seemed to anticipate what is arguably the biggest problem: The nation seems to be relapsing rapidly into brutal dictatorship.” http://politi.co/x2D6JS

Afghanistan

Protesters yesterday lobbed grenades at a U.S. base in Northern Afghanistan. http://bit.ly/zFuOAf
John Allen was videotaped speaking to troops at a base where two U.S. soldiers were killed. “There will be moments like this, when your emotions are governed by anger and your desire to strike back,” says the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan. “These are the moments when you reach down inside and you grip the discipline that makes you a United States soldier.” Watch. http://bit.ly/y0cwrX
And Stars and Stripes asks, How could this happen? “The prolonged U.S. presence in Afghanistan and the military’s mission to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of Afghans have created expectations unknown to previous generations of soldiers,” Martin Kuz writes from Kabul. http://1.usa.gov/yNlZRA
AFGHANISTAN ON THE SUNDAY SHOWS:
-Santorum, on Obama’s apology to Karzai: “I don’t think the president should have apologized for something that was clearly inadvertent. [The president should have said] this was inadvertent, this was a mistake. There was no deliberate act.” (NBC’s “Meet the Press”)
Hillary Clinton: “I well remember during the eight years of President Bush’s administration, when something happened that was regrettable, unintentional, as this incident was, President Bush was quick to say, look, we are sorry about this, this is something we obviously did not mean to do. That’s all that President Obama was doing, and it was the right thing to do.” (From an interview with CNN’s Elise Labott)
McCain: “Have no doubt, that if Afghanistan reverts to a chaotic situation, you will see Al Qaeda come back and it again be a base eventually of attacks on the United States of America.” (CNN’s “State of the Union”)
Lindsey Graham: “President Karzai’s insisting that we turn over all 3,044 prisoners to the Afghan legal system as part of the strategic partnership agreement, I cannot agree to that. The legal system in Afghanistan is very immature and porous.” (CNN’s “State of the Union”)
McKEON TO OBAMA: SLOW DOWN — The HASC chairman on Tuesday will introduce a bill “barring contractors or Afghan security forces from guarding U.S. military installations,” The Wall Street Journal reports. The measure would effectively force the White House to slow the pace of its drawdown. http://on.wsj.com/z4lCJ9

Iran

WEAPONS GRADE? The American Enterprise Institute has updated its assessment of Iran’s nuclear program and concludes that the country “is developing a rapid nuclear weapons breakout capability.” Morning Defense has an exclusive copy. http://bit.ly/ydrQi3