Outside the Beltway

Andrew Sullivan makes a rather bizarre charge offhandedly: “Who among the neocons would have thought that one of George W. Bush’s final legacies would be bringing pogroms, bombings and genocide to Christians in his new zone of freedom?”

With just over a week to go before the 112th Congress convenes, battle lines are already being drawn in battle over the defense budget.

One has to love the Telegraph headline “Drone kills white al-Qaeda pair in Pakistan mountains.”

One of the most active American diplomats of the past twenty-five years has passed away.

The latest wrong of documents from Wikileaks show that American diplomats are as worried about Pakistan as the rest of us, and not quite sure how to deal with the situation.

Sarah Palin has taken to her Facebook page to raise “Serious Questions about the Obama Administration’s Incompetence in the WikiLeaks Fiasco.” They’re more interesting than I’d expected.

Another FBI sting operation results in the arrest of a “terrorist,” or did it create a crime where none existed before?

Looking to avoid airport body scanners? You might not be able to do it on any form of public transit if Janet Napolitano gets her way.

Top administration and congressional officials can skip the indignities of airport screening, even when they fly commercial.

NATO-Russia cooperation on missile defense is a welcome step forward.

Cathy Bossi, a U.S. Airways stewardess and cancer survivor, was forced to show her breast implants to TSA agents when her prosthetic implants triggered alarm during a pat-down.

The first civilian trial of a Guantanamo detainee ends with the Defendant being acquitted on all but one charge, and shows us why the entire process is little more than a show trial.

Thanks to a combination of good intelligence and fast action, it looks like the U.S. and UK avoided a serious attack on airliners last week.

Another undercover sting nets a would-be terrorist.

The military surge in Afghanistan appears to be having little impact on the Taliban.

Police in Turkey have arrested 12 people suspected of links to Islamist militant network al-Qaeda in Istanbul and Van province.

It’s been a decade since al Qaeda attacked the USS Cole, killing 17 American sailors. The perpetrators are still at large.

If everything you know about Islam comes from Pam Geller and Christianity from Christopher Hitchens, you’re doing yourself a grave disservice.

The Obama White House is asserting that the President has the authority to issue assassination orders against American citizens, and that no Court has the authority to review his decision. If that doesn’t worry you, it should.

What’s so wrong with saying that America will survive even if al Qaeda manages to hit us again ?

According to a new book from Bob Woorward, American policy in Afghanistan is the result of a decision making process that can only be described as chaotic at best.

U.S. forces are still engaged in full-scale counterrrorism operations in Iraq. In what sense are “combat operations” over?

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Fareed Zakaria argues that the fact al Qaeda has not launched a major attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 proves we overreacted to those attacks. I beg to differ.

AP staff have been instructed “combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials. The situation on the ground in Iraq is no different today than it has been for some months.”

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

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

America’s obsession over the fate of the Burlington Coat Factory in Lower Manhattan, and a general rise in anti-Islamic rhetoric, plays right into the hands of the people that are actually our enemies.

Strippers didn’t attack us on 9/11. Then again, neither did American Muslims.

Ann Coulter has been dis-invited from a World Net Daily conference for her decision to speak at a convention sponsored by a gay conservative group.

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

President Obama waded into the “Ground Zero” mosque controversy at a Ramadan dinner last night.

The American Family Association has ramped up the nation’s anti-Muslim sentiment yet again.