Q: What is Metadata? And after the scandal of General Petraeus, are our emails private from government agencies? - Jeremy

A decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans still have a lot to learn about their own nation’s foreign policy and the Islamic religion, according to a panel discussion hosted Thursday by the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University.

A decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans still have a lot to learn about their own nation’s foreign policy and the Islamic religion, according to a panel discussion hosted Thursday by the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University.

A decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans still have a lot to learn about their own nation’s foreign policy and the Islamic religion, according to a panel discussion hosted Thursday by the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University.

Guest commentary by Susan Stamper Brown

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama ousted Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Wednesday, saying his scathing published remarks about administration officials undermined civilian control of the military and eroded trust on the president's war team.

WASHINGTON - The rapid U.S. build up in the Afghan war will include more terrorist-hunting forces to chase down militants deemed too extreme to change sides, a top U.S. general revealed on Wednesday. "There's no question you've got to kill or capture those bad guys that are not reconcilable," Gen. David Petraeus, the chief of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "And we are intending to do that."

BRUSSELS — NATO allies will bolster the American troop surge in Afghanistan by sending at least 7,000 soldiers of their own, officials said Friday in pledges that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton described as crucial to turning the tide in the stalemated war.

Mike Reagan: President Obama, it is time to listen to your field generals over liberal Washington politicos, just as you did in February of this year when you approved an initial increase of 21,000 troops. It is now time to give Gen. McChrystal the troops he needs to get the job done. 

Mike Reagan: Most Americans can reasonably agree that Bush's May 1, 2003, declaration was premature and in error; however, what is getting lost in the always politicized debate over Iraq is the fact that the end of major combat operations is now actually upon us. 

President Barack Obama has become quite the hawk when it comes to the war in Afghanistan. Obama has approved a surge of 21,000 troops that will bring U.S. military forces there to 68,000. And recently he confidently promised that the U.S. will "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

NAIROBI, Kenya - Somali pirates and their hostage American sea captain were adrift in a lifeboat Thursday off the Horn of Africa, shadowed by a U.S. destroyer with more warships on the way in a U.S. show of force.

KABUL - U.S. troops in Afghanistan saw their supply lines squeezed from the north and east Tuesday after militants blew up a bridge in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan's government said it would end American use of a key air base following Russia's announcement of new aid.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Russia and neighboring Central Asian nations have agreed to let supplies pass through their territory to American soldiers in Afghanistan, lessening Washington's dependence on dangerous routes through Pakistan, a top U.S. commander said Tuesday.

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan - Afghan tribes are needed as crucial battlefield allies against the Taliban and other extremists in the same way local militias rose up to oppose insurgents in Iraq, the new military overseer of America's two wars said Thursday.

BAGHDAD - Gen. David Petraeus, whose strategy for countering the Iraq insurgency is credited by many with rescuing the country from all-out civil war, stepped aside Tuesday as Gen. Ray Odierno took over as the top American commander of the conflict.

Why does the Pentagon hate predatory payday lending? "You can have disastrous consequences for the quality of life and for the careers of service members," Dr. David Chu told a Senate committee in 2006, as undersecretary of defense.

The Bush administration, which has adamantly opposed timetables and a date for withdrawal from Iraq, has reached tentative agreement with Baghdad on both.

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military blamed al-Qaida in Iraq Saturday for a suicide car bombing in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar, while an Iraqi official said the death toll in the attack had risen to 25.

Memo to the Obama campaign: It's too early to start measuring the drapes.

BAGHDAD - The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost.

BAGHDAD - Iraq's government welcomed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday with word that it apparently shares his hope that U.S. combat forces could leave by 2010.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama shared Sunday breakfast with American troops in Kabul ahead of an expected meeting with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, a man Obama has criticized for not doing enough to rebuild his war-torn country.