Outside the Beltway

Michael Hastings has yet another credulous story attempting to smear the United States military.

The CIA’s drone war in Pakistan has gotten so out of hand that the Pentagon and State Department are reigning it in.

Our good friend Hamid Karzai, contemplating a war between the United States and our good allies Pakistan, says that he would of course fight with Pakistan.

Flashback: When David Petraeus was simply known as “Peaches” & was a member of the “French Club”

So, you want a career in foreign policy field and are weighing your options….

Should President Obama do whatever General Petraeus wants in Afghanistan?

President Obama is expected to announce the withdrawal of the 30,000 Surge troops.

Fox News chairman Roger Ailes has come to regret the direction he took the network after the 2008 election.

Why would David Petraeus take the thankless job of running the CIA?

David Petraeus’ 1987 PhD dissertation:After all, if a country with relatively few public opinion concerns or moral compunctions about its tactics cannot beat a bunch of ill-equipped Afghan tribesmen, what does that say about the ability of the United States — with its domestic constraints, statutory limitations, moral inhibition, and zealous investigative reporters — to carry out a successful action against a guerrilla force?

Should transparency stop at the water’s edge?

The duty to defend “hateful, extremely disrespectful, and enormously intolerant” expression.

Todays’ horrific attack on the UN complex in Mazar-i Sharif may well the the Tet Offensive of Afghanistan: a relatively minor event that permanently changed the American public’s view of the war.

Public support for the war in Afghanistan continues to plummet, but will that hurt the President when 2012 rolls around?

The American military personnel system works against keeping the best and brightest officers in the service.

Marine Commandant James Amos is going all-out to keep gay Marines in the closet, saying allowing them to serve openly could get men killed.

The commander-in-chief, secretary of defense, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff all support removing the ban on gays in the military without further delay. A long-awaited Pentagon study showed no reason not to do so. But three of four Service chiefs disagree.

Israelis and Palestinians don’t agree on much these days, but they do agree that Barack Obama hasn’t helped the peace process at all since coming to office.

Virginia’s answer to Joe Biden has put his foot in his mouth once again. It won’t prevent him from getting an 11th term.

American troops in Afghanistan are overindulging in the fast food fare brought in to raise their morale.

Perhaps the biggest insight from Bob Woodward’s latest book is the sharpness of the split between the military and civilian leadership.

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

Everyone from David Petraeus to Sarah Palin is speaking out against a nutbag pastor’s Koran burning event. While they’re right, they’re emphasizing the wrong message.

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.

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.

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

Some people are saying that David Petraeus deserves promotion to a rank last held by Omar Bradley.

General James Mattis, who some feel was snubbed for Marine Commandant last month, has landed in arguably a more important role: succeeding David Petraeus at CENTCOM.

You know who would be a good replacement for him at the Right Now blog? David Petraeus.

The odds that David Petraeus will be able to pull off a miracle in Afghanistan like he did in Iraq are very slim.

David Petraeus says he supports the President’s Afghanistan policy, including the withdrawal timetable, but that means less than most people think it does.

While praise for the military often goes overboard, the reaction to the McChrystal flap shows our armed forces at their finest.

Both President Obama and General McChrystal handled a bad situation incredibly well.

President Obama has relieved General Stanley Chrystal of command of ISAF.

General Stanley McChrystal is opening his mouth again and, this time, it could cost him his job.

Mitt Romney is the frontrunner for the 2012 Republican nomination. Aside from it being Romney’s “turn,” he’s got very strong organization and fundraising capabilities and has demonstrated the ability to get through a campaign without committing major gaffes.