Yesterday morning I participated in a panel at the Heritage Foundation, "What's in a Name? How to Talk About Terrorism."

I was filling in at the last minute for another panelist who could not make it. I focused on attempts to define terrorism and the importance of establishing that some behavior is off-limits - regardless of the cause. My co-panelists were author Richard Miniter who focused on some successful efforts to challenge the Jihadis on Islamist doctrine and Kamal Nawash for the Free Muslims Coalition Against Terrorism who also talked about the need to establish some behaviors as out of bounds of civilized conduct and discussed the Muslim failure to properly and thoroughly condemn terrorism.

There have been two recent reports of the United States gathering intelligence along and hopefully within Iran. An AP report on Afghanistan reports that U.S. forces are operating along the Afghan-Iranian border and may have slipped into Iran. This is one tiny note in the context of a much longer article about Iranian smuggling, commercial, and political influence in Western Afghanistan.

Meanwhile the Financial Times reports that US Marines are collecting intelligence about ethnic minorities along the Iranian-Iraqi border. The article speculates that this could inflame the delicate diplomatic situation by scaring the Iranians about possible U.S. military action.

It is good to know that someone in the right places is thinking seriously about Iran - finally.