According to multiple (angry) sources, McChrystal -- our top soldier on the ground -- intended to ask for 28,000 more US troops. A presidential hatchet man directed the general not to make the request: Troop increases would be "addressed separately."

Worried about his poll numbers, our president's making a bad situation worse. He's given McChrystal the impossible mission of turning Afghan Flintstones into Jetsons, while starving him of means.

This violates a fundamental...]]> Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 THE Obama administration's determination to hold witch-hunt "investigations" of CIA interrogators who did their patriotic best to keep us safe endangers us all.

Castrate the CIA, and Americans will die. But the Obama White House wants vengeance against those who don't fit its ideology. Your family's safety comes a distant second.

And let's get real: Attorney General Eric Holder (whose top career achievement was finessing the presidential pardon of a criminal Clinton donor) is not acting independently.

Anyone who believes that Holder didn't pre-brief the president and get the nod prior to announcing his determination to crucify...]]> Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Last updated: 4:45 amAugust 21, 2009 Posted: 3:04 amAugust 21, 2009

IN Washington, politicians of all persuasions toss around the word "strategy." But it's rare to meet anyone inside the Beltway who understands what it means.

A strategy applies the necessary means to achieve a clearly defined goal. If your goal is unclear, you won't get the means right, either. So we wind up in Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq or Afghanistan with our national fingers crossed.

The clearest way to explain strategy is in terms of your personal investments. Your goal is a positive return. The more you're asked to risk, the greater the potential return has to be. And you...]]> Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Last updated: 3:32 amAugust 7, 2009 Posted: 2:30 amAugust 7, 2009

THIS week, as President Obama's surro gates denounced worried citizens as a "mob," leftist leaders abroad cracked heads.

More than a few Obamacrats may long for the same freedom of action as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or Russia's Vladimir Putin.

To say nothing of North Korea's "dear leader," Kim Jong-Il, who made a former US president dance real close. Or Iran's "President" Ahmedinejad, who White House press secretary Robert Gibbs described as "elected." (Had a Bushie committed such a gaffe, it would've made headlines.)

Democracy advocates are driven into bunkers -- and we get...]]> Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

A weekly series explores the issues of faith that are shaping our world.

In Washington today, politicians too often just stand their ground. Liberal strategist Bob Beckel and conservative columnist Cal Thomas provide a better model.

An at-a-glance look at online conversations selected for the newspaper.

Readers discuss their personal experiences.

Readers share the impact Hurricane Katrina has had on their lives.

What people are saying about the news of the week.

Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters

Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters

Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters

Editorials,...]]> Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 President Obama went to Moscow desperate for the appearance of a foreign-policy success. He got that illusion -- at a substantial cost to America's security.

The series of signing ceremonies in a grand Kremlin hall and the litany of agreements, accords and frameworks implied that the United States benefited from all the fuss. We didn't.

We got nothing of real importance. But the government of puppet-master Vladimir Putin (nominally just prime minister) got virtually all it wanted. In Moscow, this was Christmas in July.

Ignore the agenda-padding public-health memorandum and the meaningless "framework document on military cooperation" (we've had such agreements before;...]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Last updated: 3:57 amJune 30, 2009 Posted: 2:27 amJune 30, 2009

OUR effort in Iraq passed a major milestone today: Our troops are leaving the cities.

Advisers remain in place. Joint patrols will still occur. And our forces will wait nearby to respond to Iraqi calls for support. But the last of the bases and US-only outposts within Iraq's urban centers will be vacated.

Terrorists have already begun testing the new security arrangements. Iraqi forces won't always pass with flying colors.

Yet this situation seemed a pipe dream not so long ago: Iraq's security forces, serving an elected government, assume primary responsibility for the good...]]> Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 SILENCE is complicity. Our president's refusal to take a forthright moral stand on the side of the Iranian freedom marchers is read in Tehran as a blank check for the current regime.

The fundamentalist junta has begun arresting opposition figures, with regime mouthpieces raising the prospect of the death penalty. Inevitably, there are claims that dissidents have been "hoarding weapons and explosives."

Foreign media reps are under house arrest. Cellphone frequencies are jammed. Students are killed and the killings disavowed.

And our president is "troubled," but doesn't believe we should "meddle" in Iran's internal affairs. (Meddling in Israel's domestic affairs is...]]> Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Last updated: 6:44 amJune 16, 2009 Posted: 2:23 amJune 16, 2009

IT must have been the viewing angle: The despots who run Iran somehow missed the halo gracing President Obama during his recent sermon to the Muslim world.

The ruling mullahs' contemptuous handling of Iran's presidential election was their response to "the Cairo effect" announced a tad prematurely by the White House.

8 SLAIN, OTHERS HURT BY REGIME THUGS

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EDITORIAL: 'DEEPLY TROUBLED'

Our president's public flagellation of America only emboldened the junta in Tehran -- leaving Iran's power brokers more defiant, determined...]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Last updated: 3:27 amJune 12, 2009 Posted: 2:06 amJune 12, 2009

THE outcome of today's presidential election in Iran may decide whether there'll be a military confrontation with Tehran.

Iran's businessmen, students and urban women want change. Their candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, once a radical, now holds hands with his wife on campaign posters. In Iran's public space, that's edging toward soft-core porn.

Prime minister during the Iran-Iraq War, Mousavi is viewed as economically sound in a land tormented by inflation and joblessness. By Iranian standards, he's a moderate. And he's stressed the damage done to Iran by President...]]> Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Last updated: 6:17 amApril 18, 2009 Posted: 1:18 amApril 18, 2009

THE world has rabies and our swooning media deliver headlines about the new Obama family dog. Yeah, the puppy's cute. But must journalists be lapdogs?

The week kicked off with gushing media declarations that President Obama had "passed his first test" in a foreign "crisis." Three pirates held an American hostage far too long. It was an embarrassment, not a crisis.

Our president was reluctant to authorize deadly force. Against pirates, for God's sake. Then, 24 hours after the Obama White House declared "Mission Accomplished," Somali pirates attacked another...]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Last updated: 1:36 amApril 8, 2009 Posted: 1:23 amApril 8, 2009

THE real climax of President Obama's Spring Apologies Tour wasn't his photo op with our troops in Baghdad or even his "American Guilt" concerts in Western Europe.

While fans in the press cheered wildly at every venue, the real performance came in Turkey. And it was a turkey.

Obama means well. Just as Jimmy Carter, his policy godfather, meant well. But the road to embassy takeovers and strategic humiliation is paved with good intentions -- coupled with distressing naivete.

On every stage, Obama draped Lady Liberty in sackcloth and ashes, drawing plentiful applause but no serious economic or...]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Last updated: 3:25 am
February 28, 2009
Posted: 2:00 am
February 28, 2009

YESTERDAY, President Obama went to Camp Lejeune. He spoke in front of US Marines, but his real audience was his left-wing campaign supporters.

And his carefully worded speech - its parsing of language worthy of Bill Clinton - may go down in history as his "Mission Accomplished" moment. We'll see who leaves Iraq when.

During last year's presidential campaign, it was evident that Obama wouldn't keep his promises to his leftist base to pull our troops out rapidly.

While he benefited greatly from the troop surge he opposed - which handed him a...]]> Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Last updated: 4:23 amJanuary 30, 2009 Posted: 12:43 amJanuary 30, 2009

TOMORROW, Iraq holds its third nationwide elections and its first without American training wheels. The results may tell us more about the region's future than any event since the fall of Iran's shah 30 years ago.

Can Middle Easterners, on their own, make democracy work?

This round of voting chooses the Iraqi equivalents to our state legislatures, and there are going to be some ugly irregularities. This is the Middle East, after all - where cheating the system is how you survive and prosper.

But if Minnesota can't get it right, maybe we should cut Iraqis some slack. If the...]]> Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Last updated: 5:23 am
January 16, 2009
Posted: 12:00 am
January 16, 2009

IN THE spirit of the times, President Obama needs to think like a debt collector: How can he corner strategic deadbeats into paying up?

Europe's behind in its security payments. Fifty years behind. Most of those past debts have been written off, but it's time for the continent to pony up in Afghanistan.

The good news is that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is already making the minimum payments due.

NATO likes to advertise that it has over 50,000 troops in Afghanistan, but more than 30,000 of those are US forces. And we intend to double...]]> Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Last updated: 5:50 amJanuary 11, 2009 Posted: 1:44 pmJanuary 10, 2009

Israel hasn't killed a single civilian in the Gaza Strip. Over a hundred civilians have died, and Israeli bombs or shells may have ended their lives. But Israel didn't kill them.

Hamas did.

It's time to smash the lies. The lies of Hamas. The UN lies. And the save-the-terrorists lies of the global media.

There is no moral equivalence between Hamas terrorists and Israeli soldiers. There is no gray area. There is no point in negotiations.

Hamas is a Jew-killing machine. It exists to destroy Israel. What is there to negotiate?

When Hamas can't kill...]]> Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Last updated: 12:51 am
January 7, 2009
Posted: 12:36 am
January 7, 2009

WOULD you ask your accountant to perform brain surgery on your child? That's the closest analogy I can find to the choice of Democratic Party hack Leon Panetta to head the CIA.

Earth to President-elect Obama: Intelligence is serious. And infernally complicated. When we politicize it - as we have for 16 years - we get 9/11. Or, yes, Iraq.

The extreme left, to which Panetta's nomination panders, howled that Bush and Cheney...]]> Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Last updated: 1:15 am
December 29, 2008
Posted: 1:08 am
December 29, 2008

DEAD Jews aren't news, but killing terrorists outrages global activists. On Saturday, Israel struck back powerfully against its tormentors. Now Israel's the villain. Again.

How long will it be until the UN General Assembly passes a resolution creating an international Holocaust Appreciation Day?

Israel's airstrikes against confirmed Hamas terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip were overdue, discriminating and skillful. So...]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Last updated: 3:52 amDecember 16, 2008 Posted: 2:57 amDecember 16, 2008

ON Sunday, President Bush ducked two shoes hurled toward him in Baghdad. But he never ducked his responsibilities in Iraq.

A great deal of justified criticism can be leveled at the Bush administration, but to his great - and enduring - credit, our president didn't quit as mistakes made by his subordinates mounted and the prognosis in Iraq turned dire.

And the "shoe incident" shows how the results vindicated his stubbornness.

When an Arab heel aimed those shoes at our president, it showed the world the extent to which Bush loosened the laces of Middle Eastern...]]> Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600 Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600 Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600 Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 The American president is furious now, but it's too late. High noon came and went, and the much-derided cowboy-president wasn't there when he was needed. Instead, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, well-intentioned and inadequate, took time off from the Feydeau farce of his personal life and rushed to Moscow to "demand" a cease-fire in Georgia.

The Putin regime was perfectly willing to let Monsieur le President return to Paris with a signed piece of paper. The Russians have drawn the lesson from Western efforts to negotiate with Iran and other rogue states that Europe can be narcotized with empty agreements and nebulous promises and that Europe has become a continent of...]]>