The freedom enjoyed in Najaf as a result of American actions in 2003 and 2004 will not matter if the United States has no diplomats permanently in Shiite Islam's Vatican City, ready to make Washington's case; America's enemies will define our legacy.

Dick Lugar; keep that name in mind in the weeks and months ahead.

The massive government spending during World War II did not lead to an economic boom. Economic historians have known for some time that the war cut personal consumption as Americans saved their paychecks in record amounts.

For the first time in 20 years, Saudi Arabia has named an ambassador to Iraq. For years the Saudis resisted U.S. entreaties to take this step, and the current relationship between these two most important Arab countries in the Gulf has not been warm, so the timing is curious and...

One year after the Fukushima disaster, nuclear energy policy is moving in two opposite directions. While much of the world, led by Germany, is embracing caution and winding down nuclear energy ambitions, the US, Britain, France and Russia are poised to boost their nuclear estate.

In withdrawing all but a tiny few U.S. forces from Iraq and indicating that he is weighing an accelerated drawdown from Afghanistan, President Obama is reversing a generation’s course in American strategy and policy.

The fighting has come to Baghdad, and planning has begun for post-Saddam Iraq. Some, however, continue to try to exclude the Iraqi opposition from any post-Saddam authority. What should the role of the opposition be? How will Iraqis coming out from under decades of Baathist tyranny fit in? Or...

The Department of Veterans Affairs is implementing new rules that seek to make it easier for veterans that have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder to receive disability, but misapplied largess can undermine the recovery prospects of other veterans.