Oliver North from Creators Syndicate

Ayatollah Talk for 07/18/2008

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — Here in the Carolina Lowcountry, there is considerable consternation about this week's meeting in Switzerland between U.S. and Iranian diplomats. Such confusion is understandable, given the longstanding Bush administration policy against such meetings, recent events in that part of the world, and the way in which the State Department and White House announced the Ju ...

Updated: Fri Jul 18, 2008

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Sen. Obama's Excellent Adventure for 07/25/2008

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

GEORGETOWN, S.C. — "What's this guy running for, emperor of the world?" asked the sunburned fellow at the next table where we stopped for lunch. Mr. Sunburn was holding a copy of the local newspaper and pointing to a headline, "Obama pledges to work for peace." The inquiry, addressed to those sitting beside him, elicited only shrugs, so he answered his own question: &q ...

Updated: Fri Jul 25, 2008

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Change We Can Believe In for 08/01/2008

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

KABUL, Afghanistan — This place should have had real appeal to Sen. Barack Obama. The poverty of the Afghan people is evident everywhere. Racked by decades of Soviet occupation, civil war and an oppressive Taliban theocracy, the country is a veritable centerpiece for one of Obama's legislative objectives: a frontal assault on global poverty.

Regrettably, when Sen. Obama was here la ...

Updated: Fri Aug 01, 2008

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Report From a Forgotten War (1st in a Series) for 08/08/2008

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan — To Americans of my generation and older, the Korean War is the "Forgotten War." For this generation, it's Afghanistan — or to be precise, Operation Enduring Freedom.

This seven-year-long campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban in the shadow of the Hindu Kush didn't start out as a "forgotten war." On Oct. 7, 2001, less than ...

Updated: Fri Aug 08, 2008

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Report From a Forgotten War (2nd in a Series) for 08/15/2008

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

CAMP BASTION, HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan — This British-built fortress, perched on a plateau in southwestern Afghanistan, is well-named. Surrounded by miles of open desert, the citadel has its own concrete runway, water supply, sewage, electricity, Level 3 trauma hospital, even fire mains — all constructed in the past 30 months. The heavily armed camp is home to British, Danish, ...

Updated: Fri Aug 15, 2008

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Report From a Forgotten War (3rd in a Series) for 08/22/2008

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

HERAT PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN — Our Fox News' "War Stories" team has moved to a former Soviet military base in western Afghanistan, about 50 miles from the Iranian border. We're now with the 207th Afghan Commando Battalion and their U.S. Special Operations Command, Army and Marine counterparts. This remarkable unit celebrated the 89th anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from ...

Updated: Fri Aug 22, 2008

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Report From a Forgotten War (4th in a Series) for 08/29/2008

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

HERAT, Afghanistan — A Taliban sentry fired the first shots shortly after 2:30 a.m. as Afghan commandos and U.S. Special Operations Command troops surrounded the compound at Aziz Abad. Though the Marine Special Operations Team had employed a daring deception to achieve surprise, they were engaged heavily by gunfire from AK-47s and machine guns almost immediately after deploying at the obj ...

Updated: Fri Aug 29, 2008

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Report From a Forgotten War (5th and Last in a Series) for 09/05/2008

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

KABUL, Afghanistan — It is good to be heading home, where there are paved roads, no Russian landmines, and the man standing at the next intersection isn't going to blow himself to pieces trying to kill me, my family and my friends. At home, drinkable water comes out of a faucet, not just from a plastic bottle. Home is where meals come on plates — not in brown plastic bags — an ...

Updated: Fri Sep 05, 2008

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Future Tense for 09/12/2008

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — This week, Americans observed the seventh anniversary of the worst attack on U.S. soil in our nation's history, with memorial services for the 3,000 of our countrymen who perished Sept. 11, 2001. This week's commemorations also should remind us that the failure to act against a clear and present danger can have extremely dire consequences. That's what happened for eight years ...

Updated: Fri Sep 12, 2008

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UN-American for 09/19/2008

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Millions of American boys have dreamed of hitting a grand slam or pitching a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium because baseball's greatest have performed there. Talented musicians and singers aspire to New York's famed Carnegie Hall, for they know it represents the pinnacle of their profession. For gifted physicians and medical researchers, the Mount Everest of medicine is the Mayo ...

Updated: Fri Sep 19, 2008

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The Secret War on the Dollar for 09/26/2008

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday night, President Bush addressed the nation in an effort to persuade Congress to pass a bill to reduce the risk to major financial institutions and to safeguard American families and businesses. On Thursday, he met with Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama and other congressional leaders to build a consensus plan for bailing out our financial system. The potentates ...

Updated: Fri Sep 26, 2008

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And in Other News … for 10/03/2008

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — The potentates on the Potomac have been so busy ranting about an imminent financial "catastrophe," dissecting Sarah Palin's debate debut and prognosticating John McCain's political demise that other news — particularly about the war being waged against radical Islam — has been hard to find. Here are some facts about the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan ...

Updated: Fri Oct 03, 2008

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October Surprises for 10/10/2008

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — We're now into the 10th month of an election year, and the so-called mainstream media are on the lookout for an "October surprise." For those too young to remember, the term was coined by the potentates of the press to describe a nonevent: the belief of conspiracy theorists that Ronald Reagan somehow thwarted President Jimmy Carter from achieving the release of 52 A ...

Updated: Fri Oct 10, 2008

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No Debate for 10/17/2008

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Most of the 2,300 young Americans of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit missed all three of this year's presidential debates. They were too busy fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan to watch the first two and en route home to this sprawling coastal Carolina base during this week's give and take. Few of them have had the opportunity to see the man who will ...

Updated: Fri Oct 17, 2008

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Messiah Deficit Disorder for 10/24/2008

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, I was an unwilling eyewitness to a dramatic political event, and it made me wonder where we are headed as a nation. More on that in a moment. First, a little background.

There is no doubt that leadership matters. The study of human history provides evidence that empires — even entire civilizations — rise and fall on the ideas, virtues and skil ...

Updated: Fri Oct 24, 2008

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Freedom Matters for 10/31/2008

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

PIERRE, S.D. — My son and I are on ground where one of my heroes — the legendary Joe Foss, U.S. Marine, America's leading ace in aerial combat, Medal of Honor recipient, mentor and friend — once stood beside me. We're hunting — exercising our Second Amendment right "to keep and bear Arms." We will be back home in time to vote in hopes that this right of the peo ...

Updated: Fri Oct 31, 2008

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Protect and Defend for 11/07/2008

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

GULFPORT, Miss. — "We're the heart of the U.S. military. Our sons and daughters serve, and our neighbors build military ships." That's how a fan put it this week as I autographed a copy of "American Heroes" for him during a book-signing session. Then he added, "I hope that doesn't change." He has reason for concern, as do those who work at nearby Pascagoula n ...

Updated: Fri Nov 07, 2008

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The New World Financial Order for 11/14/2008

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON — For the past seven years, according to Rep. Jim Moran, "We have been guided by a Republican administration who believes in the simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it." Actually, that "simplistic notion" has been the linchpin of the American system of free enterprise for the past two centuries. It has served to make the United ...

Updated: Fri Nov 14, 2008

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Future Leaders for 11/21/2008

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

ROME — Our Fox News' "War Stories" team is in the Eternal City making a documentary about World War II. From the headlines and news reports here, it seems as if European clocks stopped in 1992, when global media elites were giddy about the election of William Jefferson Blythe Clinton. Then the potentates of the press were agog about "The End of History," and pundits wa ...

Updated: Fri Nov 21, 2008

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Privatizing Piracy Protection for 11/28/2008

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON — Piracy has long been the consequence of disorder. America's first foreign war — undeclared but authorized by Congress — was waged by President Thomas Jefferson against the Barbary pirates. It is instructive history for those who believe that the problem of Somali piracy can be solved the same way.

By the late 1700s, the European powers were incapable of mai ...

Updated: Fri Nov 28, 2008

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