This month, Obama administration officials revealed plans to dramatically reduce embassy staff in Baghdad, the largest U.S. diplomatic mission abroad. Along with the announcement in December of the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq — the message President Obama is sending is clear: The sooner we put Iraq...

Upon the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led Friday prayers at Tehran University. His sermon would carry the weight of an American State of the Union address. With time, Khomeini and his successor Ali Khamenei designated a substitute prayer leader from amongst the regime hierarchy.

Upon returning from several years of "self-imposed" exile in Iran--which the "firebrand" cleric chose after two uprisings by his Mahdi Army militia were badly defeated--Muqtada al Sadr declared, "We are still fighters," and has threatened attacks if US forces remain in Iraq past 2011.

Withdrawal from Iraq's cities is good politics in Washington, but when premature and done under fire it may very well condemn Iraqis to repeat their past.

Politics is the art of the possible. Liberalism will not be achieved through political martyrdom. Not believing in a loser is not the same as supporting Islamism.

The approval by the Iraqi parliament of a strategic framework agreement represents a tremendous success for the United States and for a free Iraq.

U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to withdraw troops from Iraq is predicated on an assumption that Iraq's stability is durable.

Looking forward, there are reasons to hope for a continued transformation of the U.S.-Iraqi partnership.