Outside the Beltway

Steve Clemons highlights former first lady Laura Bush’s continuing work in promoting education and international engagement.

Ron Paul is again making the argument that American foreign policy has contributed to terrorism. He’s more right than wrong.

Why Big Army has trouble with small wars.

Dick Cheney’s long-awaited book’s out and he promises lots of bombshells that will have heads exploding in DC.

Success in Libya does not make the American mission any less unjustified than it was on the day President Obama announced it.

The Atlantic has published an essay I wrote yesterday morning titled “Libya After Qaddafi: Lessons from Iraq 2003.”

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave the strongest signal ever that there will be some U.S. military presence in Iraq after December 31st.

Iraq has become so dependent on Iran for its survival that it is endorsing the brutal tactics of Bashar Assad.

Examining the impact of current events requires stepping back from them just a little bit.

Honoring the fallen by ensuring that the didn’t die in vain is a recipe for getting more good men killed.

The defense spending lobby is already engaging in fear-mongering over very modest defense cuts.

Will the trial of Hosni Mubarak actually change anything?

The cuts to Pentagon spending in the new debt deal are further revealing a split in the GOP over foreign policy and military spending.

A take on the conflict that’s probably different from the one you’ve been reading.

It is always useful to go inside the numbers.

John Boehner and Harry Reid introduced their debt plans. Now, where do we go from here?

By choosing to go it alone on a debt ceiling plan, the GOP is taking a big risk.

A legendary American soldier, General John Shalikashvili, has died.

The Army is fielding tiny blast sensors to gauge the effects of explosions on individual soldiers.

Is NATO prepared for what happens when they win?

Thomas Ricks makes the case that JFK was the worst President of his century but his argument misses the mark.

How much of an American can you be if you are willing to wreck the economy for political gain.

While it’s true that the South and the Heartland disproportionately contribute to our all-volunteer force, the notion that our forces are mostly Nebraska farmboys is false.

A homeowners association in Augusta, Georgia is coming under fire after denying Homes For Our Troops a permit to build a house for a paralyzed African-American veteran.

A few Republicans have picked up on John McCain’s criticism of critics of the Libya mission as being “isolationist.”

Last night, the President basically announced that America’s longest war had entered it’s end game.

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

For the first time since the end of World War II, the GOP is wrestling with two diametrically opposed visions of foreign affairs.

Contrary to what Senator McCain, seeking realism in military policy does not make one an isolationist.

An ex-CIA agent says that someone in the Bush White House tried to use the agency to “discredit” Iraq War critic Juan Cole.

David Rittgers, a legal policy analyst at the Cato Institute who served three tours in Afghanistan as a special forces officer, laments the militarization of police in America.

WaPo’s Jackson Diehl asks, “Will the GOP nominate a dove?”

Tammy Duckworth has resigned as Veterans Affairs assistant secretary and may make another bid for Congress.

The American public is increasingly skeptical of foreign adventurism. Why aren’t our political candidates reflecting that?