The British Guardian newspaper acquired, apparently from members of the Syrian opposition, a trove of personal e-mail exchanges from Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma. The e-mails are stunning in their breadth — covering media advice for dealing with the year-long uprising to trivial matters like how to see the latest Harry Potter movie.

What’s so remarkable about the e-mails — which the Guardian believes to be authentic but couldn’t confirm — is that, for the most part, they’re not remarkable at all. They mostly show the Syria’s first couple buying furniture, clothes, and engaging with Western pop culture, even as Assad’s regime fired artillery shells into neighborhoods known to have a strong rebel presence.

For instance, Assad, using the pseudonym Sam, sent his wife an Apple iTunes file of a country song — “God Gave Me You,” by American Blake Shelton — on February 6, just as the government stepped up its assault on the rebel stronghold of Homs. Assad also sent along the lyrics to the song, a melancholy tone even amid the dictator’s brutality and extravagance:

I’ve been a walking heartache
I’ve made a mess of me
The person that I’ve been lately
Ain’t who I wanna be

Assad used a different name and New York address to charge iTunes songs to an American Express credit card — apparently to get around sanctions prohibiting him from doing any business with the U.S. His tastes in music were erratic. He purchased a tune by the one-hit-wonder Right Said Fred (though notably not their one hit, “I’m Too Sexy”) and also a song by R&B singer Chris Brown featuring rappers Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, among other songs. In another e-mail between the couple, Bashir al-Assad sent Asma a video of an illusion from the U.S. television show America’s Got Talent.

But sometimes, the e-mails were more serious. In an e-mail from Asma al-Assad — who signs off as “aaa” — to her husband, sent on December 28, 2011, she offers words of encouragement to her husband:

If we are strong together, we will overcome this together…I love you…

The e-mails periodically got into more serious business: One showed Assad henchmen had consulted with an Iranian embassy official for advice, and another to Assad carried advice from a Lebanese contact of Hezbollah and Iran on how to spin alleged Al Qaeda in Iraq bombings in Damascus. Sometimes, the atrocities of the rebellion and crackdown became the subject of humor for the Assads, as with an exchange of a video that mocked the situation in Homs by showing how easy it was to hide tanks from observers there.

The U.N. estimates more than 8,000 people have died in the protests and crackdown, and nearly a quarter of a million people have been displaced.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said this week that the U.S. Afghanistan withdrawal plan will remain unchanged despite recent setbacks such as killings last weekend of Afghan civilians allegedly by an American soldier and recent violence sparked by burning of Qurans last month by American troops. However, the New York Times reported yesterday that “the Obama administration is discussing whether to reduce American forces in Afghanistan by at least an additional 20,000 troops by 2013, reflecting a growing belief within the White House that the mission there has now reached the point of diminishing returns.”

The Republican Party appeared to be unified in both supporting President Obama’s Afghanistan surge in 2009, and criticizing the withdrawal plan he announced last year. But fractures emerged within the GOP as the presidential candidates sought to get to Obama’s left on Afghanistan. But now the recent events there have split the GOP in three camps. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum appear ready to throw in the towel. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is still attacking the president for wanting to withdraw too soon and now the third wing is openly supporting Obama’s timetable, the AP reports:

Republicans and Democrats alike insist the United States should stay the course in Afghanistan, sticking to President Barack Obama’s timetable for withdrawing American troops despite the massacre of Afghan civilians and the burning of Qurans — two offenses blamed on the U.S. military that have stoked anti-American anger.

Key proponents of keeping troops in Afghanistan, like Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., say these tragic incidents shouldn’t diminish the American resolve to finish a job begun more than a decade ago.

Moreover, the Hill reports that Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who appeared to oppose Obama’s withdrawal plan last year, is urging Obama to maintain the current plan:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday backed the Obama administration’s scheduled withdrawal from Afghanistan, a conflict that has reached a critical moment following the alleged slaying of 16 Afghan civilians by a U.S. soldier.

McConnell emphasized he was speaking only for himself, and his remarks highlighted a divide in his party, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) slamming the administration’s plans to withdraw the 23,000 remaining “surge” troops from Afghanistan by year’s end.

A new poll out this week found that Americans’ support for the war in Afghanistan at an all time low. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports today that “[a] growing number of Afghans say they have come to see a quick U.S. pullout as the best of bad options.”

A new poll released yesterday showed Americans exhibiting strong support for the U.S. and its partners “continuing to pursue negotiations with Iran” over the country’s disputed nuclear program. Released by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and the University of Maryland, the poll (PDF) found that nearly seven in ten Americans favored continuing diplomacy, with just a quarter opting for an Israeli military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

To the right is a chart of two of the report’s key findings, American support for diplomacy and working Iran issues through international fora at the United Nations.

As part of the Obama administration’s dual-track policy toward Iran — crippling pressure and negotiations aimed at attaining the “best and most permanent way” to end the standoff with a diplomatic deal — the U.S. garnered support at the U.N. Security council for sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program and at the U.N. Human Rights Council for a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran that has condemned Iranian abuses.

While poll respondents took a pessimistic view of Iran’s nuclear program and Western efforts to block it — a vast majority thought Iran will eventually develop a nuclear weapon — their views on the matter, at times, diverged from conclusions drawn from publicly available evidence and statements by top American security officials. For instance, 58 percent of respondents thought Iran has decided on producing a weapon and is actually working toward that aim. But, despite “serious concerns,” the International Atomic Energy Agency’s most recent report contains no such assertions.

Furthermore, reports about American intelligence estimates — as well as statements by top U.S. military and intelligence officials — indicate that they don’t think Iran has chosen to produce a bomb.

However, majorities of Americans think the U.S. should discourage allies from militarily attacking Iran. This may be due to perceived negative consequences of an attack on Iran’s nuclear program. More than half of poll respondents thought bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities would either strengthen the position of the Iranian regime among the country’s population, or have no effect at all on its popularity. Responding to a question about the effects of a strike on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, 42 percent of those surveyed said Iran’s program would be delayed for less than five years. Only 18 percent thought Iran’s program would be delayed longer than that, and 22 percent thought Iran’s nuclear program would be accelerated as a result of an attack.

However, Obama administration’s policy still deems Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon unacceptable — an Iranian bomb would pose a threat to the U.S. and its allies and interests — and keeps all options on the table to avert it. But as Obama has said, “a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better.”