Instead, Mr. Mubarak, 82, a former general, struck a defiant, even provocative note.
In March, the international community put its faith in the peace plan that Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, struck with Mr. Assad.
That year also was the high point of tobacco litigation, as state attorneys general struck a $206 billion deal with cigarette makers to settle lawsuits they had filed to recover costs related to smoking.
Finally, in 2008, the Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Antonin Scalia (who was appointed while Meese was attorney general), struck down a District of Columbia gun-control law as a violation of the Second Amendment.
For a military man with a reputation in mess halls for bluntness, the general struck a balance in his speech, particularly in the remarks addressed to India, between conciliation and brusque warnings of Pakistan's readiness to defend itself.
The general struck an upbeat tone at a news conference at the heavily fortified convention center here, where he said that the American-led forces had experienced "another great week," compared with a deadly November in which more than 80 American soldiers died.
