It appears that our interests were ill-served by the abandonment of Iraq by Barack Obama.

Political dysfunction. Partisanship at record levels. Attack politics run amok. And public approval of Congress scraping the single digits (Sen. John McCain is fond of saying it's down to blood rlatives and paid staff).

Today's attack indicates that the policy of appeasing the Taliban has failed. Diplomatic engagement with the Taliban will not produce any results until the terrorist group is defeated militarily. One-sided engagement policy is not an exit strategy but a recipe for failure.

Former vice president Dick Cheney has effectively defended hard calls in a time of war.

Reasonable people can disagree about whether the United States should resume using enhanced interrogation techniques (as it appears it will if a Republican assumes the presidency in January 2013).  But we should at least debate this proposition based on facts.

For two years, President Barack Obama has pretended that terrorism is a crime, that prisoners are unwanted, and that Gitmo is unneeded.

How should al Qaeda terrorist suspects held in Western detention be brought to justice? In his new book, "Justice and the Enemy" (PublicAffairs, 2012), British author William Shawcross describes how the lessons of the past can direct us in confronting our enemies today.

Attorney General Eric Holder should reconsider the logic of holding civilian trials for Guantánamo detainees.