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Castro's Cuba

The top State Department official for Latin America, Thomas Shannon, told reporters today that Fidel Castro is still alive "as far as we know," but "the fact that he didn't show up for his own birthday celebration is significant."

Shannon said there was no doubt that a transfer of power had taken place from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul as far as day-to-day operations go. The U.S. is still uncertain, however, what role, if any, Fidel has in major state decisions.

The U.S. has observed a tightening of the Cuban regime under Raul with the intent of showing "absolute control of the state" after Fidel fell ill. Within the Bush administration, Shannon says, there is "honest disagreement" about how to best approach the Cuban regime. "We're getting all kinds of advice," Shannon laughed.

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Decision 2006: It's the war...

President Bush's Iraq policy has dominated this political season with candidates on both sides arguing about what to do next. Should the U.S. put Iraq's leaders on a timetable for securing and governing their country or just encourage them to meet "benchmarks", should U.S. troops get out now or should it be a phased withdrawal? As Republicans and Democrats alike lay out their plans, many Americans just want to know - are we winning? And is victory even possible?

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Large-scale Lebanon evacuations?

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters today that the U.S. is estimating that it will have to evacuate thousands of Americans by sea and air from Lebanon, but he could not say exactly when. In the "very near future" was how he put it.

"You don't actually know how many people are going to want to leave until you actually start the larger-scale operations," said McCormack.

As NBC Pentagon Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reports, that process has already started as they are moving some Americans out in groups of 10 via an airbridge to Cyprus. McCormack said they will begin to move Americans by groups of 100s soon.

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Reward for Zarqawi?

The State Department says they have not yet received any submissions of individuals who might be eligible for the $25 million offered through the U.S. government's Rewards for Justice program for information leading to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says many rumors had been floating about individuals who may have provided tips to the U.S. military, but he was not in a position to confirm any of them. He said the State Department has not received any requests or submissions from U.S. investigators about who may qualify.

When/if State receives individual names, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is charged with heading up the interagency process to determine if the individual meets the criteria laid out in the Rewards for Justice program. The $25 million reward is still posted on the front page of the Rewards for Justice Web site.

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Thunderstorms in Iraq

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw landed in Baghdad Sunday morning on a surprise visit to Iraq. This secret stop was aimed at pressing Iraqi leaders to complete the formation of their government.

Rice, Straw, a select number of their senior aides (mostly Rice's) and a press corps of 14 flew into Kuwait very early Sunday morning after an all night flight from Liverpool, England.   We transferred onto a C-17 military cargo plane for the journey north to Baghdad. The delegation landed in pouring rain forcing the cancellation of a planned chopper ride into the Green Zone. Instead, we boarded two "rhino" vehicles to make the drive on the notoriously dangerous Baghdad Airport road.

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Jerry Rice? No, Condoleezza Rice!

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has long said her dream job is to be comissioner of the NFL, so the announcement today that Paul Tagliabue will retire this summer led to the inevitable question at today's State Department briefing about whether she might consider abandoning her post as the United States' top diplomat.

Her spokesman said she was "enjoying being Secretary of State." But as the transcript shows, he didn't rule it out!   

QUESTION:  Are you worried that you might lose the secretary of state to the NFL?

SEAN MCCORMACK:  Well, at this point, certainly I have seen the news reports about Commissioner Tagliabue retiring. I haven't been able to confirm those reports. At the moment, the secretary is enjoying being secretary of state.

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Rice points fingers in cartoon flap

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice directly called out the governments of Iran and Syria today for fueling anger in the Middle East over the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

"I don't have any doubt that Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes. And the world ought to call them on it," she told reporters at a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

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A proud day for women

For many Americans, the West African nation of Liberia brings to mind images of civil war, poverty and the infamous warlord, former President Charles Taylor. But today Liberia began a new, more hopeful chapter in its troubled history with the inauguration of Africa's first-ever female President: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Leading the U.S. delegation to the inauguration was First Lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, who also attended the inauguration, said having both the First Lady and Secretary Rice in attendance showed the importance of "women's leadership, the promise that young girls have to emerge to a leadership role, and also the promise that the Liberian people have to democratically elect their new leadership, to transition from 14 years of civil war to the opportunity and promise of peace and prosperity."

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