Outside the Beltway

Most Americans now see America’s decade of war as a failure.

A new book by former SecDef Robert Gates is making political waves in Washington power circles, but will it matter to ordinary Americans?

The Iraqis need to learn to govern themselves, and conservatives blaming President Obama for renewed violence need a history lesson.

Congressman Steve Stockman’s primary challenge of Senator John Cornyn could be a big deal, or, more likely, it could be a dud.

Relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia seem to have soured in recent years.

The destruction of Syria’s stockpiles will be slow and laborious even if all goes according to script.

:Like his predecessors, President Obama’s speech last night exaggerated the threat that Syria poses in order to sell his plan to American voters.

President Obama’s plans in Syria are as unclear as they were before he spoke last night.

Opposing interventionism and unnecessary and unwise military engagements is not isolationism.

Heading into an intense week of Congressional lobbying, the odds still seem against the Administration on Syria.

Why are chemical weapons a “red line” in a war where so many have been killed?

President Obama seems to have forgotten the words of a certain Illinois State Senator back in 2002.

We’re almost certainly going to launch punitive strikes against Syria. They’ll almost certainly be ineffective.

United States helped Saddam Hussein launch some of the worst chemical attacks in history against Iran.

As many as 500 convicted al Qaeda terrorists were released Sunday night as part of a surge of violence that has killed thousands since April.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons aren’t going anywhere.

A decade ago. a certain New York Times columnist was more right than your humble host.

Syria’s violence is slipping across it’s borders.That’s not good news at all.

President Obama may regret drawing a line in the sand over Syrian chemical weapons.

We treat violence by lone individuals differently than organized violence. Race, religion, and national origin have nothing to do with that.

Emily DePrang looks back at “‘Baghdad Bob’ and His Ridiculous, True Predictions.”

The notion that guns prevent tyranny is based on fantasy and movies, not reality.

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander during Operation Desert Storm, has died at the age of 78.

For the fourth day, American and other embassies became the focus of mass protests in many Muslim nations.

The Romney campaign is doubling down on bizarre foreign policy pronouncements.

In another sign that things may not be going so well between Washington and Jerusalem, President Obama will not be meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he’s in the United States.

There are some glaring omissions from a recent list of television’s “most powerful” moments.

For the first time in 68 years, neither major party candidate for President has served in the military. Does this matter?

Osama bin Laden’s death provides Barack Obama with an important political shield during the upcoming campaign.

Some Navy SEALs are weighing in on the brouhaha.

Once again, Ron Paul showed last night why he could never win the Republican nomination.

For years, analysts have worried that Iraq’s tenuous hold on stability would collapse upon the withdrawal of US forces. We’re now watching it happen.

How can we know what happens next in North Korea when we didn’t even know Kim Jong-il had died?

After 3,193 days and more than 4,000 lives, the American war in Iraq is officially at an end.

An attack against Iran’s nuclear weapons research facility won’t be an easy thing.

President Obama’s surprise announcement Friday that all U.S. forces would leave Iraq in time to be home for the holidays has been roundly condemned. While there are real concerns about what happens next, there was no better alternative.

Should we be outraged over the manner in which Muammar Gaddafi died? I’m not losing any sleep over it.

The post-Gaddafi era has been made permanent. What comes next?

Measuring our progress a decade after the 9/11 attacks

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

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.

International options with respect to Syria are limited and likely to have little impact on the governments treatment of civilians.