Oliver North from Creators Syndicate

Cover-up for 05/10/2013

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — We all know about the notorious Obama "kill list." CIA Director John Brennan proudly told us about that last year when he described how the O-Team decides which Americans should be executed by Hellfire missiles fired from remotely piloted aircraft. Why hasn't the White House used this capability to take out those who killed our diplomats in Benghazi, Libya, last yea ...

Updated: Fri May 10, 2013

Being Presidential for 05/03/2013

Fri, 03 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — On April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall in New York, George Washington took the oath of office as the first president of the United States. He and the members of both houses of Congress then assembled in the unfinished Senate chamber, where Washington took less than 20 minutes to deliver the first inaugural address. Precisely 225 years later — at the same time of day — ...

Updated: Fri May 03, 2013

Aftermath for 04/26/2013

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — More than 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote "The Art of War." In it, the Chinese strategist postulated: "One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements. ... One who knows neither the enemy nor himself will invariably be defeated."

Two millenniums later, Prussian military theorist Carl Philipp Gottfried von Cla ...

Updated: Fri Apr 26, 2013

Boston Massacre for 04/19/2013

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — We don't know why two bombs were set near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and wounding more than 170 others Monday, April 15. In an era of instant information, a 24/7 news cycle, ubiquitous social media, countless smartphones and tens of thousands of government security cameras in metropolitan areas, our FBI has called for the public to help find and cat ...

Updated: Fri Apr 19, 2013

Marathon Manhunt: The Movie for 04/19/2013

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — It's sure to be a major motion picture worthy of the talents of Michael Moore and Oliver Stone. If the FBI does indeed have the right suspects, the docudrama screenplay — "based on a true story" — will begin with FBI public-domain footage of two young men carrying backpacks along a crowded street and then two bombs detonating near the finish line of the ...

Updated: Fri Apr 19, 2013

Then and Now for 04/12/2013

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Ten years ago this weekend, our Fox News team was racing north from Baghdad to Tikrit with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. They knew what needed to be done and had a plan for doing it, and all Griff Jenkins and I had to do was cover it and stay out of the way. Given what I'm doing this weekend, covering the war was less demanding, somewhat better-organized and perhaps less da ...

Updated: Fri Apr 12, 2013

Korean Craziness for 04/05/2013

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — On Sunday, June 25, 1950, the Korean People's Army attacked across the 38th parallel, captured Seoul — capital of the Republic of Korea — and began driving south. The battered South Korean army and their U.S. military advisers quickly were pushed into the "Pusan Perimeter" on the southern tip of the peninsula — and U.S. President Harry Truman took ...

Updated: Fri Apr 05, 2013

No Greater Friend … for 03/29/2013

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — On the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division distributed a one-page "Message to All Hands." It was a succinct warning to those going into battle about what to expect from the enemy and his expectations for them. His instructions and encouragement on deportment, skill, courage and compassion harkened back to Shakespeare's r ...

Updated: Fri Mar 29, 2013

Was It Worth It? (Part 2 of 2) for 03/22/2013

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — It's the question asked by Gold Star families — the loved ones of our fallen — when I meet them at funerals or public events. It is spoken quietly by the spouses of grievously wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardsmen and Marines when I visit military and veterans hospitals. And it's in the correspondence I receive from parents and friends of those who have lef ...

Updated: Fri Mar 22, 2013

Operation Iraqi Freedom 10 Years On (Part 1 of 2) for 03/15/2013

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Some holidays are unforgettable. If I sit down and think about it, I can recall where and with whom I celebrated nearly every Christmas of my life. That's not the case with St. Patrick's Day — an inexcusable lapse, given my maternal Irish heritage. But wait! There is one St. Paddy's Day that springs instantly to mind. It was exactly a decade ago, and I vividly remember ...

Updated: Fri Mar 15, 2013

Reassuring Words for 03/08/2013

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON — In my New York Times best-seller "Heroes Proved," the president of the United States orders the execution of an American citizen in the United States by using precision munitions fired from a remotely piloted aircraft, or RPA — incorrectly referred to by our media as a drone. When the book came out last year, some critics derided the idea of a U.S. president's ...

Updated: Fri Mar 08, 2013

Sequestration and Stupidity for 03/01/2013

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON — The screeching you hear in Washington is the sound of politicians slamming their mouths into reverse as they back away from their previous positions on the misnamed "budget sequester." For weeks now, we have been told that an $85 billion reduction in the rate of increase in federal spending — a 2.4 percent cut — will have devastating consequences for our ...

Updated: Fri Mar 01, 2013

Tyrannical Twins for 02/22/2013

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON — Last year, the Obama administration announced to the world that it was planning to pursue a new Asia/Pacific-oriented national security strategy. Since then, North Korea has countered with a strategy of its own. In December, Pyongyang successfully launched a multistage intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a warhead-sized payload to the U.S. mainland. On Feb. ...

Updated: Fri Feb 22, 2013

Presidents and Promises for 02/15/2013

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

YORBA LINDA, Calif. — On Tuesday evening, Feb. 12, a capacity crowd filled a replica of the White House East Room for a presentation at the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum. After that, they stood in line to buy autographed copies of my latest New York Times best-seller, "Heroes Proved." All of them heard: "Lyndon Johnson sent my brother and me to war in Vietnam. In ...

Updated: Fri Feb 15, 2013

Send in the Clowns for 02/08/2013

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

TIBERIAS, Israel — Atop the Golan Heights, there are thousands of fruit trees, vineyards, acres of wheat, vegetables, herds of cattle and a half-million or more land mines. The livestock and produce were brought here and cultivated by Israeli citizen-soldiers — people who beat their swords into plowshares to wrest farmland from a battlefield. The land mines were planted by the Syria ...

Updated: Fri Feb 08, 2013

Surrounded by Enemies for 02/01/2013

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

JERUSALEM — Until Jan. 30, I was working on a story about reaction here in Israel to the Obama administration's decision to provide advanced F-16 aircraft to Egypt. All that changed early Wednesday, when I received a call from an Israeli friend who told me: "Last night, the (Israeli air force) carried out a raid on a weapons convoy in Syria." He said the trucks were en route to ...

Updated: Fri Feb 01, 2013

Changing the Guard for 01/25/2013

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is changing the guard. Minutes after the president retook the oath of office, he formally submitted nominations for his new secretary of state, secretary of defense and CIA director. Two days later, remnants of red, white and blue inaugural bunting, bleachers and security fences were still up at the U.S. Capitol and along Pennsylvania Avenue when Cong ...

Updated: Fri Jan 25, 2013

Guns for 01/18/2013

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

CLARK COUNTY, Nev. — Official Washington has the collective attention span of a fruit fly. This condition is exacerbated by the Obama administration's proclivity for declaring selective events and issues to be crises that require immediate action. The problem is aggravated because the loyal opposition is in nearly total disarray, and few in the so-called mainstream media have any idea wha ...

Updated: Fri Jan 18, 2013

Revenge of the O-Team for 01/11/2013

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

WASHINGTON — Full disclosure right upfront: I'm a proud life member of the National Rifle Association. I am on the NRA's board of directors and serve as chairman of the organization's Military and Veterans' Affairs Commit ...

Updated: Fri Jan 11, 2013

Kicking the Can for 01/04/2013

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — It seemed like a good idea at the time. After Christmas, my wife, Betsy, and I planned to head south to this lovely barrier island in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Our plan included celebrating New Year's quietly with as many of our kids, their kids and our friends as possible and then returning to Virginia. It was supposed to be the antithesis of Times Square. Lik ...

Updated: Fri Jan 04, 2013