Outside the Beltway

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?

Clearly there’s a large ambiguity in the Constitutional gap between the two separate war-related powers of Congress and the Executive. The WPA can be seen as an attempt to resolve it but can’t if it’s unconstitutional.

Are you better off than you were four years ago?

Army Sergeant First Class Leroy Arthur Petry will become the ninth Medal of Honor recipient for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan–and one of only two who lived to tell the tale.

Commander Dave Koss, the head of the Navy’s Blue Angels, has “voluntarily” resigned after repeated unsafe maneuvers.

While President Obama has had some amusing gaffes on his trip to London, including getting the year wrong in the guest book and an awkward toast to the Queen, his speech to Parliament today hit all the right notes.

Comparing Obama to Carter on foreign policy (especially in terms of electoral politics) doesn’t make sense.

The US-Israeli relationship is not one of equals.

“Our records indicate that your annual income for the 2011 taxable year was $2,170,000,000,000. You have requested a credit limit of $17,000,000,000,000. These figures exceed the American Public’s guidelines for credit issuance”

President Obama’s approval numbers shot up after Osama bin Laden was killed two weeks ago. They’ve already settled back to where they were

If former President George W. Bush has any bitterness that Osama bin Laden was finally killed under his successor, he’s not showing it.

Is the war in Libya illegal?

Elias Isquith proclaims my Atlantic essay “How Perpetual War Became U.S. Ideology” to be “a total disaster.”

Technology has saved the lives of countless American soldiers. But it’s made going to war easier.