Outside the Beltway

And when did it know it?

How exactly was the most wanted man in the world able to hide in this house without anyone in Pakistan knowing about it?

A Pakistani man named Sohaib Athar unwittingly became part of history in the early hours of Sunday morning when he started telling twitter about some odd events in Abbotabad, Pakistan

I don’t feel the jubilation that came with Saddam Hussein’s capture in December 2003. Sadly, I know better this time.

Keith Urbahn, chief of staff of former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, broke the news.

Breaking News.

The groups we supported were defeated by the Taliban in the civil war that followed Soviet withdrawal. The Taliban and Usama bin Laden were supported by the separate “Sayyaf” group of Mujahideen supported by Saudi Arabia and Deobandi fanatics in Pakistan.

The U.S. seems to be on the verge of changing war strategies in Libya, even as it becomes clear that these rebels aren’t necessarily our friends.

Who wants that job? (And is willing to work that hard to get it?)

Is the only possible motivation conservatives could possibly have for calling out the lunatic fringe a desire for the acceptance of liberals?

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.

Santa Claus and Osama bin Laden both rely on the power of belief.

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

The People In Charge telling us that something is Necessary For Our Own Good makes a large number of people accepting of the inconvenience, no matter how asinine or unsupported by evidence.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Protests against mosques aren’t just limited to Manhattan. And that’s a problem.