Daniel Munoz/ReutersFireworks exploded over Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House at the start of the new year in Australia.
NEW YORK — With glittering fireworks and star-studded celebrations from New Zealand to Times Square, the world eagerly welcomed a new year Saturday, saying goodbye to a year of hurricanes, tsunamis and economic turmoil that many would rather forget.
Revelers in Australia, Asia, Europe and the South Pacific island nation of Samoa, which jumped across the international dateline to be the first to celebrate, welcomed 2012 with booming pyrotechnic displays. Fireworks soared and sparked over Moscow's Red Square, crowds on Paris' Champs-Elysees boulevard popped Champagne corks at midnight, and up to a million revelers were expected to jam New York's Times Square for the famed crystal-paneled ball drop.
Romeo Ranoco/ReutersWomen used sparklers to draw '2012' for photographers at a New Year's party in Manila Saturday night.
But many approached the new year with more relief than joy, as people battered by weather disasters, joblessness and economic uncertainty hoped for a better 2012.
"Once the ball drops, I won't give 2011 another thought," said Kyralee Scott, 16, of Jackson, New Jersey, whose father spent most of the year out of work. "It was a pretty tough year, but God was looking after us and I know 2012 has got to be better."
Some New York revelers, wearing party hats and "2012" glasses, began camping out Saturday morning, even as workers readied bags stuffed with hundreds of balloons and technicians put colored filters on klieg lights. The crowds cheered as workers lit the crystal-paneled ball that drops at midnight Saturday and put it through a test run, 400 feet above the street. The sphere, now decorated with 3,000 Waterford crystal triangles, has been dropping to mark the new year since 1907, long before television made it a U.S. tradition.
As the country prepared for the celebration, glum wasn't on the agenda for many, even those that had a sour year.
Fireworks burts over the famous Harbour Bridge and Opera House as Australia's largest city Sydney celebrates the start of 2012. Courtesy of Reuters. Photo: AP.
People in Hong Kong count down to the new year as fireworks explode over the city. Courtesy of Reuters. Photo: AP.
"We're hoping the next year will be better," said Becky Martin, a former elementary school teacher who drove from Rockford, Illinois, to Times Square after spending a fruitless year trying to find a job. "We're starting off optimistic and hoping it lasts."
Many expressed cautious hope that better times were ahead after a year in which Japan was ravaged by an earthquake and tsunami triggering a nuclear disaster, hurricanes wreaked havoc across the U.S. and a debt crisis threatened Europe's economy.
"Everybody's suffering. That's why it's so beautiful to be here celebrating something with everybody," said Lisa Nicol, 47, of Melbourne, Australia, who was in Times Square.
For all of the holiday's bittersweet potential, New York City always treats it like a big party — albeit one that now takes place under the watchful eye of a massive security force, including more than 1,500 police officers.
Dick Clark, who suffered a stroke in 2004, will be back to help host his namesake New Year's Eve celebration with Ryan Seacrest, featuring performances by Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. Gaga will then join Mayor Michael Bloomberg to lead the 60-second countdown to the New Year.
In Las Vegas, police planned to shut down a four-mile section of the Strip to vehicle traffic six hours before midnight, letting revelers party in the street. Casino nightclubs touted pricey, exclusive bashes hosted by celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Fergie, and fireworks were expected to shoot from the rooftops of eight of the city's most famous casinos.
Atlanta was welcoming thousands to its downtown, where a giant peach is dropped every New Year's Eve at midnight. Fireworks were to be launched from the top of the Space Needle in Seattle; in Houston, tens of thousands were celebrating at a party with country singer Delbert McClinton.
Miami has its own fruit, The Big Orange, a neon citrus with a new animated face that will rise up the side of a downtown hotel as fireworks go off nearby. The town of Eastport, Maine, will lower an 8-foot-long wooden sardine from a downtown building at midnight, in celebration of its sardine canning and fishing history.
The first worldwide celebrations started in the island nation of Samoa, which hopped across the international date line at midnight on Thursday, skipping Friday and moving instantly to Saturday.
Samoa and the neighboring nation of Tokelau lie near the dateline that zigzags vertically through the Pacific Ocean; both sets of islands decided to realign themselves this year from the Americas side of the line to the Asia side to be more in tune with key trading partners.
In Sydney, more than 1.5 million people watched the shimmering pyrotechnic display designed around the theme "Time to Dream." In London, some 250,000 people gathered to listen to Big Ben chime at the stroke of midnight. Fireworks were set off from the London Eye, the giant wheel on the south bank of the River Thames.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate for a massive party complete with live performances from the Scorpions and other bands and a spectacular fireworks display.
Revelers in Spain greeted 2012 by eating 12 grapes in time with Madrid's central Puerta del Sol clock, a national tradition observed by millions who stop parties to follow the chimes on television.
Tens of thousands of young people in the Spanish capital gathered at six indoor "macro-parties" the city council had authorized in big venues such as the city's main sports hall.
Milena Quiroga was to be among the many there happy to move on. "I am glad to see 2011 go because it was a tough year; my restaurant laid off almost half of the staff," said the 25-year-old waitress.
World leaders evoked 2011's struggles in their New Year's messages with some ambivalence.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Europe's crisis is not finished and "that 2012 will be the year full of risks, but also of possibilities."
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wished well being and prosperity to all Russians "regardless of their political persuasion" after large-scale protests against him.
At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI marked the end of 2011 with prayers of thanks and said humanity awaits the new year with apprehension but also with hope for a better future.
"We prepare to cross the threshold of 2012, remembering that the Lord watches over us and takes care of us," Benedict said. "In him this evening we want to entrust the entire world. We put into his hands the tragedies of this world of ours and we also offer him the hopes for a better future."
—Copyright 2011 Associated Press
BEIRUT—Hundreds of thousands of antigovernment demonstrators gathered in cities across Syria on Friday in the largest protests in months, apparently aiming to take advantage of the presence of the Arab League monitoring committee.
Syrian activists said the massive gatherings, held in 18 provinces, were proof of the public's resolve and defiance against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Video footage on YouTube showed huge crowds packed into squares and areas outside of mosques in cities such as Aleppo and Latakia, and in several suburbs near Damascus. They waved olive branches and the green, white and black pre-Assad-era flag of Syria, in a symbolic gesture borrowed from Libya's uprising to signal a desire to end the regime.
Activists said protesters wanted to display the breadth of their dissent against the regime to the 60-member Arab monitoring team, which is traveling across Syria for the purpose of examining whether Mr. Assad is implementing his promise of a cease-fire—part of an agreement reached in December.
Activists said they also wanted to provoke the security forces into a reaction, so the observers would get a first-hand look at the regime's crackdown.
"There is an enthusiasm seen today because of the presence of the observers, and we noticed protests expanded to new areas," said Omar Idlib, a spokesperson for the Local Coordination Committee, a national network in Syria that organizes and documents the protests.
In several cities, violence erupted as security forces opened fire on crowds leaving mosques after Friday noon prayer, injuring scores and killing 13 in Douma, Homs and Idlib, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Overall, 35 people were reported killed Friday.
Video footage showed large numbers of antiriot police and security forces chasing crowds, throwing tear gas and firing live ammunition into crowds. The protesters threw rocks as they scrambled to run away.
The Arab League's findings, anticipated in a report after a one-month tour, are expected to play a key role in determining the future of Mr. Assad's regime.
If the report condemns Mr. Assad's handling of the opposition, it will be a blow to his standing. If the observers conclude his handling of the crisis is acceptable, some analysts say that result could also spur on protesters.
"The report [by the Arab League] will be a prelude needed to accelerate the Syrian revolution. Whatever they say will tip the balance for Assad in a decisive way," said Kamal Yazigi a political analyst in Beirut.
Associated PressAmateur video made available by Ugarit News group shows protesters gathered at an antiregime protest in Hama, Syria, on Friday.
The monitoring team on Friday reached Idlib province near Turkey's border, according to Syrian state television. They also toured Homs, the Damascus suburb of Harasta and Douma, and by Friday night had representatives stationed in several cities.
Although they were transported by Syrian police and accompanied by security guards, members said they were able to talk to residents in many cities and see some of the protests.
"What I can say is that this day was very good; we talked to some people during the day and saw a big peaceful protest. There was some shooting when the demonstration was finished," said Abdulatif Jabali, an Arab League monitor from Tunisia, reached by telephone in Idlib.
Mr. Jabali said he would reserve any final judgment until he completes the tour. He said the team was free to go anywhere and talk to anyone.
Associated PressPro-Assad supporters rallied in the capital, Damascus, Friday.
The Arab League committee has been criticized by activists after the Sudanese head of the committee, Gen. Mohamad Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, reportedly said Thursday there was "nothing frightening" in the city of Homs during his visit.
Activists said the comments suggested the monitoring team was either not capable or not willing to conduct a meaningful investigation. Homs is a hotbed of clashes between regime forces and protesters, and was a scene of violent clashes on Thursday.
An Arab League statement Friday said quotes in the media from some team members were taken out of context. Still, some say any monitoring team is better than none. "Until now it's not too bad, they are seeing what they need to see. The Arab League is now the only light we have in the dark night," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Write to Farnaz Fassihi at farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com
CAIRO—Egyptian and foreign human-rights workers largely turned to self-defense on Friday, a day after unprecedented raids on nongovernmental organizations left a chill over Egypt's already embattled civil-society community.
Thursday's raids came as the country nears the end of a six-week cycle of elections for its first post-revolutionary Parliament. Among those raided were the monitors for the three rounds of parliamentary elections, two of which have been completed.
EPAA plain-clothes officer guarded the entrance of a building hosting the offices of an NGO in Cairo on Friday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Egyptian Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, on Friday to express "deep concern" about the raids, the Pentagon said
Some civil-society leaders said their newly defensive stance might rattle their election-monitoring plans. Heads of both Egyptian and American NGOs said Friday their organizations have temporarily shifted at least some of their resources away from defending human rights toward defending their own right to work and recovering essential equipment and data.
"Our immediate concerns in the wake of this are very minute-to-minute and logistical—focusing on the security of our people," said Charles Dunne, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Washington-based Freedom House, whose offices remain sealed after the raid Thursday.
State prosecutors and security officials raided 17 NGOs throughout the country, Egypt's state news agency, Mena, said Thursday. On Friday, prominent NGO directors said they could count only five or six groups known to have been searched, including three American-based pro-democracy organizations.
Prosecutors sealed and searched the offices as part of a judicial investigation into foreign funding for local groups, which is illegal if not approved by the government.
The military leaders charged with leading Egypt's transition to democracy, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF, maintained their silence over the raids Friday, the first day of the weekend in Egypt.
More than two dozen Egyptian NGOs released a statement Thursday night pledging to continue their work.
Egypt's present political season is a vital moment for these groups. The Parliament that Egyptians are now electing will draft a constitution, a process Egypt's interim military leadership has already tried to stage-manage several times, despite pushback from political parties. The delicate arrangements for transferring power from military to civilian rule, which the military has stated, will come before the end of June, also haven't yet been made.
The raids could deepen emerging strains between Washington and the Egyptian military. Since the revolution last winter, the Pentagon has repeatedly praised the Egyptian military for acting as a stabilizing force on the country. But renewed protests here over what many in Egypt believe is a reluctance of the military to hand over power has tested the military-to-military ties with Washington.
In his Friday call, Mr. Panetta "emphasized that it is critical for Egypt to continue on the path to democratic transition," said spokesman George Little.
Mr. Little said Mr. Panetta thanked Field Marshal Tantawi for his "prompt decision to halt the raids," but the Pentagon's decision to highlight the phone call signaled it intends to keep pressing the Egyptian military.
In Cairo, rights groups said they expect a continued chill.
Bahey el-Din Hassan, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, said despite the raids' stated aims, he saw them as a thinly veiled attempt to instill fear in organizations that had criticized the ruling military leadership.
Most worrying, he said, is a lack of clarity from the government and what he said appeared to be the arbitrary nature of their investigation.
The prosecutors who searched NGO premises provided no search warrants, and confiscated computer hardware, cash and documents without taking signed inventory of the evidence they collected, Mr. Hassan said. He said that could give investigators an opening to fabricate or plant evidence.
"Anything can be expected at any moment whatsoever," he said. "So you can imagine that when someone works in such an environment how much this will negatively impact his capacity for long-term planning."
—Julian E. Barnes in Washington contributed to this article.Write to Matt Bradley at matt.bradley@dowjones.com
SEOUL—North Korea on Saturday officially gave Kim Jong Eun the title of supreme commander of the country's military, formalizing a title that its media started campaigning for a week ago.
The step is one of several expected in coming weeks to give Mr. Kim's unelected leadership the air of legitimacy in the country, which has been run since its inception by his grandfather and father.
North Korea's news agency said a unit of the Ruling Workers' Party approved the appointment at a meeting Friday. "All the participants stood up to welcome him with enthusiastic applause," the news agency said.
Also Friday, North Korea said its new leader, Kim Jong Eun, won't work with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, continuing the anger its regime displayed under Kim Jong Il over Mr. Lee's refusal to provide it with unconditional economic aid.
Zuma PressKim Jong Eun attended a Lantern Festival concert in Pyongyang.
The statement on Friday—which said North Korea would shun Mr. Lee's government "forever," though he has just 14 months left in office—appeared to dash any hope that the younger Mr. Kim might try to change relations with South Korea after his father's death.
Instead, the 1,400-word statement, issued a day after the formal mourning period ended in North Korea, attempted to use Kim Jong Il's death as another event to influence South Korea's political scene, where elections are scheduled for parliament and the presidency in 2012.
The statement's harsh language and attribution to the North's National Defense Commission was also a sign that the younger Kim may engage in some kind of military provocation against the South to rally support for himself by portraying the North's citizens as under threat from Seoul.
"To company with them is a disgrace for the clear and honest-minded Korean nation as they are ignorant in politics, vulgar in morals and lack elementary human nature," the statement, attributed to North Korea's National Defense Commission, considered its most powerful organ, said of Mr. Lee's government.
The South Korean government had no immediate reaction. A spokesman for Mr. Lee said the president planned to address inter-Korean relations on Monday in a previously scheduled New Year's speech.
In a New Year's statement issued Saturday, Mr. Lee said he will "protect the country under any circumstances" and work to build its economy in 2012, though he didn't directly mention North Korea.
North Korea has heaped criticism on Mr. Lee since shortly after he took office in 2008 for ending the few-questions-asked aid policy practiced by the South's two previous presidents. South Korea provided the North with more than $8 billion in assistance from 1998 to 2008. Mr. Lee cut off that flow of funds and said he would restart it when North Korea took steps to reverse its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Thousands have turned up at Kim Il Sung Square to mourn the death of Kim Jong Il. The WSJ's Deborah Kan talks to reporter Evan Ramstad about what's really going on.
North Korea has for decades tried to influence South Korean politics as part of a broader goal of uniting the Koreas under Pyongyang's leadership.
As Friday's statement did, North Korea typically refers to South Korea with a lowercase "s" as a way of portraying it as part of one Korea rather than a separate country.
The statement also cited its goal of a "final victory," a reference to the Korean War of the 1950s in which the North tried to take over the South. The two countries remain technically at war; the armed conflict ended with a cease-fire in 1953.
Since the death of Kim Jong Il was announced on Dec. 19, the North Korean media and sympathetic groups outside the country have drummed out a series of statements urging Seoul to allow South Korean politicians and civic groups to travel to Pyongyang to express condolences over his death.
Much of the statement on Friday was devoted to Seoul's refusal to allow such groups to travel from South Korea. North Korea also criticized Mr. Lee for holding meetings with security advisers after Kim Jong Il's death was announced and for permitting civic activists who oppose the North Korean regime to send leaflets across the border via balloons.
"We will surely force the group of traitors to pay for its hideous crimes committed at the time of great national misfortune," the statement said.
Mr. Lee did allow the widows of a former South Korean president and business executive who devised the "Sunshine Policy" assistance program to visit Pyongyang to express sympathy to the Kim family. The North Korean statement didn't acknowledge that visit.
A similar controversy arose between the two Koreas when Kim Jong Il's father, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. At that time, Seoul didn't allow anyone to visit the North to mourn. Write to Evan Ramstad at evan.ramstad@wsj.com
WASHINGTON—The U.S. military left Iraq in December with new technologies that are likely to change the shape of future wars. But some of the skills developed alongside are in danger of falling away, several people throughout the ranks worry.
Ten years ago, the U.S. military was firmly under the control of the generals. It was steeply hierarchical, slow to evolve and squarely focused on "big wars" between armies of opposing nations.
A decade of painstaking, often painful lessons resulted in a military that is in many ways fleeter and more adaptable. It is also flatter: The generals are still in charge, but Iraq and Afghanistan showed that independent thinking by low-level captains and lieutenants is also critical to success.
In any inventory of changes, the most obvious may be equipment. To protect soldiers from roadside bombs, the Pentagon built $45 billion worth of mine-resistant, armor-protected vehicles, the V-hulled trucks known as MRAPs. Military officials say MRAPs have saved hundreds of lives, though the hulking vehicles' utility remains unclear for future arenas.
The Pentagon also built sophisticated jammers to foil radio-detonated roadside bombs, which are likely to become standard issue against improvised explosive devices, a probable the weapon of choice in future land wars. The unmanned drones it acquired to battle insurgents have transformed how the U.S. fights wars and now is also used extensively by the Central Intelligence Agency.
But the two wars have also helped push the military strategy from a playbook of offense and defense, to one that includes a third class of operations—strategies that include so-called counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, aimed at maintaining stability for populations in often-hostile zones and turning potential allies into enemies.
"It is not good enough to be proficient on the traditional military tasks we have tended to focus on in the post-Vietnam era," Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in 2007 and 2008 and now the CIA director, said in an interview earlier this month. "Very likely, conflict in the future will include a requirement for stability tasks."
Stability operations aren't popular in parts of the White House. Some administration officials see them as overly costly missions that threaten to tie down the U.S. military in long-term occupations that do little to improve American security.
Such hostility in some quarters has caused some officers to fear some of the counterinsurgency skills honed in Iraq will be lost—including running detainee operations, conducting interrogations and collecting intelligence with aerial drones, areas of high expertise that support efforts to cripple insurgent networks and head off spectacular attacks.
Others worry that the skills learned through hard years of fighting—how to react quickly to ambushes and spot IEDs before they explode—will fade. The military remade its training centers to teach such skills, but instilling the knowledge into the next generation of soldiers will require retaining senior non-commissioned officers who spent the most time hunting insurgents in Iraq.
"Those wars are going to be lost arts," said Staff Sgt. Maxwell Davis, who spent 62 months in Iraq across five tours. "The people who stay in try to teach it. But guys are getting out. So it is going to be a battle to teach what you need to do in combat to keep yourself safe."
Historians may ultimately conclude the Iraq war—some 4,500 lives lost, upwards of 30,000 wounded, more than $800 billion spent—was unacceptably costly.
With the end of the Iraq war, and beginning of the end in Afghanistan, the Pentagon has entered an era of cost cutting. The Defense Department is currently trimming some $450 billion in planned spending over the next decades with many in the military predicting more cuts to come.
Officers say they understand the need for some cuts, and to reduce the size of the military. But they say spending can be trimmed even as skills are preserved.
These people say the broader question is what sort of war the military's masters in Washington want to prepare for. They point to the years following the unconventional, anti-insurgency-style war in Vietnam. Then, the military began preparing for the kind of war it wanted to fight: a big one, possibly in Europe, with bombers, tanks and artillery.
"We came out of Vietnam and vowed never to do that again," said Marine Lt. Gen. John Kelly, who served three tours in Iraq and is now the senior military assistant to the defense secretary. "We re-armed to fight the kind of wars we liked to fight, the kind of wars we were good at—conventional, high tech. And now, here we are, with 10 years of a Vietnam-like war."
Also enticing to Washington is the other skill honed by the military in Iraq: lean, special-operations commands capable of hunting militant networks, such as the hunter-killer operation that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan earlier this year.
But there is a danger in relying only on commando raids, current and former special-operation officers say. In Iraq, it wasn't until Gen. Petraeus overhauled U.S. strategy that special-operations raids began to have a significant impact.
"We had taken an awful lot of insurgent leaders off the battlefield, but it was not enough," Gen. Petraeus said in the interview. "It was not until we also focused on securing the population by living with them, conducting major clear-hold-and-build operations and then also pursued reconciliation, that security improved."
The Petraeus strategy pushed soldiers like Sgt. Davis off the big bases and in to tiny outposts inside Iraq neighborhoods, which slowly improved security enough that Iraqi citizens began to turn their back on militias and insurgent groups. But it required large numbers of personnel, outlays of cash for development projects, and skilled troops whose first instinct when fired upon was not, necessarily, to shoot back.
It also took lower-ranking officers who were creative and adaptable. In 2003, it hardly seemed like traditional military work when Gen. Petraeus ordered the military to restart industrial sites in the city of Mosul. Maj. Gen. Ben Hodges was a colonel when he approved that plan, sending three lieutenants to restart an asphalt plant, a sulfur works and a concrete plant. He said he figures the three officers won't likely be asked to restart a factory again, but such problem-solving will serve the Army into the future.
"The war showed the need for leaders at all levels who can adapt," Gen. Hodges said.
The latest turn away from counterinsurgency already may have started. The Pentagon is focusing its attention on Asia, where any war is likely to rely on the Air Force and Navy. The Libyan war showed that airpower can be used in combination with ill-trained local forces to topple a dictator.
Current and former officers say it doesn't take a great leap of imagination to think the U.S. could get involved in another conflict requiring a large number of troops to keep the peace and warn that the U.S. can't turn its back on counter-insurgency. To some extent, that may influence the decisions that lie ahead.
"We, as a nation," said Gen. Kelly, "have to be ready to fight every kind of war."
WASHINGTON—Iran said it will launch missiles and torpedoes as part of an ongoing naval drill in the Persian Gulf, an Iranian news agency reported, following a week of saber-rattling in which Tehran threatened to close some of the world's most vital oil-shipping lanes.
Tehran said this week it could easily block oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if the U.S. and other nations impose further sanctions on it.
Such threats could be largely bluster. But they also speak to the degree to which Iran has chafed at recent U.S. and European Union threats to impose sanctions on Iran's central bank to punish Tehran for its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran denies such allegations.
On Saturday the country's oil minister was quoted as saying crude prices will rise to more than $200 a barrel if sanctions are imposed on Iran's oil exports. "Undoubtedly the price of crude will increase dramatically if sanctions are imposed on our oil," Iran's Moj news agency quoted Rostam Ghasemi as saying. "It will reach at least over $200 per barrel."
Underscoring the stakes, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Friday that more oil passed through the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz in 2011 than in previous years and that any blockage could lead to "substantial increases" in energy costs.
In data released Friday, EIA officials said an average of nearly 17 million barrels of oil moved daily through the strait this year, up from around 15.5 million barrels in 2009 and 2010. The strait, which the agency called "the world's most important oil chokepoint," carried about 20% of all oil traded world-wide and about 35% of all seaborne-traded oil, it said.
Tehran's threats over the Strait is one factor behind the recent rise of oil prices to around $99 a barrel Friday, from a low of around $76 a barrel in October.
Contributing to the friction between Washington and Tehran, Iran is conducting 10 days of war games in the southern Persian Gulf. On Friday, the semiofficial Fars News Agency quoted an Iranian Navy deputy commander as saying forces will "launch advanced short-range, mid-range and long-range missiles and also smart torpedoes." The agency highlighted several new weapons displayed by Iran in recent months including the Qader anti-ship cruise missile, which Iran claims has a range of 124 miles, and Valfajr torpedoes, a 485-pound weapon that Iran says can be launched by its subs and can destroy large warships.
Pentagon officials declined Friday to comment on the threatened tests. U.S. defense officials said Iran had a right to conduct military exercises in the international waters of the Gulf.
U.S. military officers view Iran's current long-range missile capability skeptically. An explosion at a missile facility in November was a major setback to Iran's long-range missile program, according to U.S. officials. A test of the long-range missiles could be an attempt by Tehran to assert that it retains the ability to deploy such weapons.
U.S. officials see Iran's short- and medium-range missiles as a greater immediate threat. Such missiles could be used to target American naval forces. U.S. ships approaching Iran would be forced to proceed carefully.
U.S. officials have made clear that any move by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz would be countered vigorously, including through the use of military force to keep the chokepoint open to commercial traffic. Much of the oil produced in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations must pass through the strait to reach overseas markets.
At its narrowest point, the Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles wide and deep enough to handle the largest oil tankers. In 2011, an average of 14 oil tankers moved through every day, with a corresponding number of empty tankers entering to pick up new shipments, the EIA said.
The U.S. Navy has one battle group in the Persian Gulf, led by the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier. The Air Force has fighter planes in Kuwait and Qatar. While U.S. forces have pulled out of Iraq, thousands of service members are in Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Bahrain, the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.
The National Defense Authorization Act, which President Barack Obama is expected to sign soon, penalizes foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran's central bank, a measure aimed at making it more difficult for Tehran to sell its oil.
Some U.S. officials believe that Iran will view any attempt to sanction its central bank as an act of war, and they warn of a possible conflict breaking out in the Persian Gulf. Other analysts say Iran is unlikely to try to close the strait, largely because that would damage its own already-struggling economy.
On Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said "the ratcheting up of pressure" on Iran with sanctions "is pinching in a way that is causing them to lash out."
The majority of shipments moving through the strait are bound for Asian markets. If the Strait of Hormuz were to close, oil deliveries could be rerouted via pipelines to the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea, said the Energy Information Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. That would raise transportation costs, it said.
—Benoit Faucon contributed to this article.Write to Tennille Tracy at tennille.tracy@dowjones.com
Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799) was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786. Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765 and is well remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is remembered as one of the most influential exponents of Republicanism, promoters of the American Revolution and Independence, especially in his denunciations of corruption in government officials and his defense of historic rights. After the Revolution, Henry was a leader of the anti-federalists in Virginia who opposed the United States Constitution, fearing that it endangered the rights of the States, as well as the freedoms of individuals.
My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you've bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.
I thank President Bush for his service to our nation -- (applause) -- as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears and true to our founding documents.
So it has been; so it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many -- and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met. (Applause.)
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation. But in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. (Applause.)
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those that prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops, and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip, and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died in places like Concord and Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions, greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week, or last month, or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. (Applause.)
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift. And we will act, not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We'll restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage. What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.
The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched. But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity, on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good. (Applause.)
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers -- (applause) -- our Founding Fathers, faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man -- a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience sake. (Applause.)
And so, to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born, know that America is a friend of each nation, and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity. And we are ready to lead once more. (Applause.)
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we'll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.
We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense. And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken -- you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you. (Applause.)
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. (Applause.)
To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. (Applause.)
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the role that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who at this very hour patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.
We honor them not only because they are the guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service -- a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.
And yet at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all. For as much as government can do, and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.
What is demanded, then, is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept, but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship. This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall; and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served in a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath. (Applause.)
So let us mark this day with remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At the moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words to be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America: In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
![[1231newyear02]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-RF188_1231ne_G_20111231083641.jpg)
Daniel Munoz/ReutersFireworks exploded over Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House at the start of the new year in Australia.![[SB10001424052970204632204577132373496734542]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-RF205_1231ne_D_20111231111552.jpg)
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39.4°
WSJ's Laura Meckler reports the Obama administration defended the U.S. mission in Libya before Congress. As costs reach $700 million, Congress is considering whether to invoke the War Powers Act. Photo: COLIN SUMMERS/AFP/Getty ImagesIn a report sent to all members of Congress, the White House underscored the limited nature of U.S. involvement in Libya, which it said has cost $716 million so far and will total $1.1 billion through September.
Politics
Comments
Progressive hypocrisy!
http://defendourconstitution.blogspot.com/
As one who HAS been "waterboarded", pert'neer 40 years now, I must disagree. To compare this procedure with REAL physical abuse is ludicrous.
QUOTE: "Koh got off on the wrong track by treating "hostilities" as an "ambiguous term of art" divorced from common-sense understandings."
And where is the MSM? The "Lybia" War must have the approval of Congress. Really, "a term of art"? It involves propping up Muslim fundamentalists against a thuggish dictator - recall that BillyJeff did the same thing in the Balkans.
So where's President SmartPower™ re: Syria, Iran, North Korea, etc. after leading the charge to remove America's ally from power in Egypt?
Our C-in-C is a hypocritical coward.
QUOTE: "By joining George W. Bush in blazing novel legal pathways for super-presidentialism [sic] ... "
Would you care to name one or two examples?
QUOTE: "To respond to this danger, Congress should create a new legal tribunal within the executive branch that ... "
Uh Huh
That's just what we need - MORE bureaucracy to provide CYA for the POTUS, or, in other words, another opportunity to dismiss Congressional subpoenas with disdain and impunity.
That is gobsmackingly antithetical to the previous several paragraphs. The potential for POTUS abuse of power has manifested itself in the Black Narcissus administration. Richard Milhouse Nixon (for whom I proudly voted as MY C-in-C), must be grinning in his grave.
One-Term Barry and his buffoons all possess Ø credibility.
~(Ä)~
Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows. Eh, but I know: It stops with a president who understands that he can't break the law without undermining his office, and an American people aware and engaged enough to vote lawless presidents out of office.
A perfect opportunity to call the POTUS on his record versus his promises gone to waste.
Hey Daily Beast, you might want to put those mittens down and get out the gloves you have reserved for Republican Presidents.
Quite the man
An empty suit.
A man with no birth certificate. (still not certain)
A man who was deserted in childhood by his biological father.
A man whose birth records, both in the United States and Kenya, are sealed by government order.
A man whose childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, spied on U.S. military installations in Hawaii for the Soviet Union, edited a communist newspaper, authored pornographic novels, and wrote poetry in praise of Joseph Stalin.
A man mentored by and still supported by radical Muslims.
A man who promised transparency in government, but has spent over a million dollars in legal fees hiding information that would determine his eligibility to be President.
A former drug user.
A man whose academic records are sealed from kindergarten through law school.
A man who arrived in New York in June of 1981 without enough money to get a hotel room, but one month later flew to Indonesia and Pakistan.
Why did he go? Who paid his expenses?
A man who traveled to Pakistan when it was illegal (there was a travel advisory)for U.S. citizens to do so. So what country’s passport did he use?
A man whose Law School Admission Test scores and grades at Columbia University are known to have been mediocre, but was admitted to Harvard Law School through the intervention of a Saudi named Khalid al-Mansour.
A law review editor who never published an article in any law review.
A lawyer with no significant accomplishments in the law and no reputation in the legal community.
A former State and U.S. Senator, who never authored a piece of legislation.
Although I respect Mr. Ackerman's proposal, I do not think we really need another arm of government created. There is a simple solution to the President running amok like this. Congress has the legal power to compel President Obama to withdraw the troops under the WPR, 15 USC Section 1544.(c). If that does not work they can just cut off funding. So, all we need is a Congress that is not so cowardly as the present one.