Reasonable, intelligent people can disagree over whether five accused 9-11 conspirators should be tried in federal courts in New York City for that day's horrendous destruction.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammed Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi could have been brought before the military commissions that have evolved from lengthy struggles over proper procedures for prosecuting suspected terrorists detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Don't jump to conclusions about Islam's role in the Fort Hood massacre, the media warned. Who needed to jump? From almost the beginning, it was clear that Maj. Nidal Hasan was a homegrown jihadi.

Within hours of the attack, people who knew Hasan were telling reporters how openly pious he was and how he often expressed his opposition to U.S. war policy in religious terms favored by Islamic extremists. In fact, you had to strain hard not to see the role Islam played in this atrocity. But that's an exercise politically correct American elites -- in the media, academia and government -- are good at. They've certainly had lots of practice since 9/11.

MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan -- Is there any way to get around Afghan President Hamid Karzai?

This question dominates the U.S. debate as President Obama prepares to announce his long-delayed Afghan strategy. A leaked memo to the White House from the U.S. ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, opposes any troop increase until Karzai tackles corruption. Many think Karzai's flaws will undermine the entire NATO effort.

Something as sweeping as health care reform, we're being told, should have bipartisan support. The creation of the interstate highway system did. And the Civil Rights Act. Ditto the Social Security Act of 1935.

Well, no kidding. Of course health care reform should have bipartisan support -- just as so many of our Republican congressmen are insisting. As they work feverishly to keep any trace of bipartisanship from seeping into the vote counts.