Free Republic

Joel Brinkley, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who spent more than two decades at The New York Times, where he displayed range, rigor and lucid writing as a White House correspondent, as Jerusalem bureau chief and as an editor, died on Tuesday in Washington. He was 61. The cause was acute undiagnosed leukemia, resulting in respiratory failure from pneumonia, said his wife, Sabra Chartrand. Mr. Brinkley was a son of David Brinkley, the widely respected television news anchor, and he established his own journalism reputation early in his career. In 1980, while working at The Louisville Courier-Journal, he won a Pulitzer...

Only a few months have passed since President Obama last boasted that al Qaeda is on "the path to defeat." The jihadist groups can work independently, but most are reported to coordinate their carnage with Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden's successor as the al Qaeda leader. And it was he, the United States says, who ordered coordinated attacks on American embassies and consulates in August, a plan that prompted the United States to close more than 20 of them. Where is this leading? The State Department says "current information suggests that al Qaeda, its affiliated organizations and other terrorist groups continue...