Outside the Beltway

Dan Drezner asks, “Has Bob Woodward jumped the shark?” My snarky response is that he did that in Bob Casey’s hospital room.

Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections were marked by another round of allegations of widespread voter fraud, once again bringing to the forefront the question; what exactly are we trying to accomplish in Afghanistan ?

A US military platoon was apparently able to target innocent Afghans for murder. Without senior commanders suspecting a thing.

In comments this morning, Justice Stephen Breyer seemed to suggest that Koran burning might not necessarily be Constitutionally protected.

Regular readers know that I’ve long thought we’ve achieved all we’re going to in Afghanistan. But that doesn’t mean that our presence is therefore motivated by secret motives.

Newt Gingrich is drawing fire for his comments about that the President has a “Kenyan world view.” But, will Newt every pay the price for his inflammatory rhetoric ? Don’t count on it.

Newt Gingrich is feeding the fires again, this time claiming that the President may be guided by a “Kenyan,” “anti-colonialist” worldview.

Taking a short trip back in time via Instapundit’s archives reveals a September 11th post that turned out to be prophetic.

Sergeant Salvatore A. Giunta is the first living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.

Ted Koppel thinks our actions since 9/11 have helped Osama bin Laden fulfill his goals. He couldn’t be more wrong.

The media is now starting to look at it’s own role in the whole Koran burning story, but the truth is that there really wasn’t any way they could’ve ignored the story.

Over the course of a little more than two hours, the “Burn A Koran Day” story merged with the “Ground Zero Mosque” story in a bizarre media circus that seems to have accomplished little other than give press attention to a bigoted Pastor in Florida.

Steve Walt, Steve Clemons, Matthew Hoh and others have released a provocative new report arguing for a change in our Afghanistan strategy.

The Obama administration has persuaded the nation’s most liberal appellate court that the executive branch’s right to secrecy trumps the rights of people claiming they were tortured by the United States Government.

Robert Gates has been a reluctant Secretary of Defense but his impact at the Pentagon has been tremendous.

The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart is suffering a little New Media embarrassment after writing a blog post based on comments by a Congressman who doesn’t exist.

It’s getting harder and harder to tell blogs from newspapers.

The plan by one fringe church in Gainesville, Florida to burn copies of the Koran on September 11th is igniting fires of protest across the Muslim world.

Will Israel attack Iran ? You’d better hope not.

The first ad of the 2012 presidential cycle has aired, by some dentist touting Hillary Clinton. She’s not running. Could she?

President Obama didn’t use the words “Mission Accomplished” last night, but the message was the same.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has proclaimed, “The most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” Is he right?

Critics of WikiLeaks have no affirmative proof that the release of tens of thousands of classified documents has gotten anyone killed. The truth is that we’ll likely never know.

Not surprisingly, Radical Islamists are taking notice of the tone of debate in the United States over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque.”

While American politics concerns itself with trivial issues, Pakistan finds itself dealing with a devastating natural disaster that could have real geo-political implications.

America’s mission in Iraq is shifting from an active combat role to a smaller security presence. But the war that gripped our attention for years is now off the radar screen.

The United States has promised $150 million in aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan. Should we have?

Why are people’s views about Islam so screwed up ? Mostly because the only things they know about it tend to be the worst possible aspects of all.

Policy expert recommends driving off cliff!

Either Obama’s Defense Secretary and commanding general are conspiring to undermine his July 11 deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan or that they’re carrying out his intent.

As many American soldiers have died in Afghanistan under Obama as under Bush.

General Stanley McChrystal has been hired to teach leadership at Yale.

Robert Gates says he wants to retire next year, but will the call of duty cause him to stay longer ?

A major part of the problem with the seeming growing wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in some quarters of US politics is that it seems to equate Islam as “the enemy.” If that’s the case, then US foreign policy has some ‘splainin’ to do.

The GOP is playing a dangerous game with the anti-Islamic rhetoric that it seems to be courting these days.

Barack Obama has significantly widened his predecessor’s global war on terrorism, even if he’s no longer calling it that.

According to a new MSNBC/Wall Street Journal poll, the public that will head to the polls in November is increasingly gloomy and pessimistic.

Every new report out of Iran seems to bring us closer to the moment when Israel has decided it’s heard enough. What happens if that day actually happens ?

Of the U.S. military’s 10 combatant commands, only three are held by Army or Marine generals.

There’s a war of words developing between the Pentagon and the information-sharing website Wikileaks.

Holland became the first NATO member to pull out of Afghanistan. How long before the rest follow?

The American military is on a mission in Afghanistan that the public is increasingly starting to question.

ABC’s Sunday talking heads show has a new host. Is she a secret Taliban sympathizer?