Oliver North

NORTH: Military lab rats

No nation has ever had a better military than today's all-volunteer U.S. armed forces. Though I wouldn't trade anything for the young Americans with whom I served in Vietnam or afterward, those presently wearing America's uniforms are the brightest, best-educated, best-trained and most combat-experienced military the world has ever seen. Now, in the midst of an unprecedented ninth year of war and nonstop, high-stress deployments, their commander in chief intends to put the capabilities of this extraordinary force and our nation's security at risk to carry out a radical social experiment.

February 6, 2010

NORTH: At war, or not at war?

"We are at war." So said the 44th president of the United States on Jan. 7, 2010. These four words, a profound statement of the obvious, were belatedly uttered as our commander in chief transitioned from tropical sunsets on his "Hawaiian holiday" to klieg lights at the White House in the aftermath of the Christmas Day "near-miss" terror attack aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 enroute from Amsterdam to Detroit. The phrase was startling - because it wasn't an affirmation of a mindset Mr. Obama brought to office. Rather it was the reluctant admission of facts Mr. Obama has spent a year in office diligently trying to deny.

January 25, 2010

NORTH: American capabilities and vulnerabilities

There is no doubt that the terrible earthquake in Haiti - the worst disaster in the history of the Western Hemisphere - is a tragedy of profound proportions. The good news is that the "first responders" on-scene were wearing American uniforms. The U.S. Coast Guard - motto: "Semper Paratus" - Latin for "Always Ready" - was "firstest with the mostest" - and began providing emergency assistance within hours of the Tuesday night quake.

January 18, 2010

NORTH: Obama shock

On Wednesday, National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones warned that we would feel "a certain shock" at revelations in a White House report on what the Obama administration is calling the "Failed Christmas Terrorist Attack." He was referring to the breakdowns that allowed a 23-year-old, Nigerian-born, al Qaeda-trained, suicide-terrorist to nearly bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit. But the stunning information isn't learning "what did we know and when did we know it," leading up to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempt to detonate a bomb concealed in his underwear. The greatest cause for alarm is in what has happened since.

January 11, 2010

Be afraid, very afraid

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is Time magazine's Person of the Year. Twelve months ago, the "honor" went to President-elect Barack Obama. Notably, the 1932 recipient was president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, who asserted in his March 4, 1933, inaugural address, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

December 20, 2009

A matter of ‘life and death’

When I was a young Marine, we were encouraged to read Sun Tzu's "Art of War" as a primer on conflict. Our mentors were officers and senior noncommissioned officers who had served in World War II, Korea and the early days of the conflict in Indochina.

December 13, 2009

Mission impossible

The commander in chief's Tuesday lecture at the U.S. Military Academy has to go down in history as one of the strangest presentations ever offered by a wartime president. The robotically delivered address is defended by administration officials as the culmination of a carefully thought-out "strategy review," in which Mr. Obama proffered the "rationale" for deploying additional troops and explained "The Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan." Unfortunately, it failed to do any of this.

December 6, 2009

Holiday honors

America is at war. According to the latest opinion polls, that is not what many Americans want to hear this weekend after Thanksgiving, as the Christmas holiday approaches.

November 29, 2009

Suicide pact

Last week, while "the most traveled president in history" was on his latest foreign adventure and bowing to Japanese Emperor Akihito, the rest of the O-Team was busy kowtowing to political correctness. The headlines tell the story:

November 22, 2009

Fed-up straight shooters

They have come from every state in the Union - more than 50,000 veterans and their families. They are here to celebrate Veterans Week in a city that "never forgets our heroes," where businesses proclaim to "hire veterans first" and entertainers proudly announce the units with which they served - to the applause and cheers of fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen, National Guardsmen and Marines.

November 15, 2009

Obama’s unlearned lesson

Thirty years ago last week, a group of Iranian "students" shouting "death to America" stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking nearly 100 hostages - among them 65 Americans.

November 8, 2009

Heroes come home

In what has turned out to be the bloodiest month of the war in Afghanistan, a growing chorus of critics claim the fight is no longer worth the cost. Though most of those saying so aren't paying the price, the toll was evident at Dover Air Force Base early Thursday morning as 21 flag-draped, gunmetal transfer cases were conveyed solemnly from the ramp of a USAF C-17.

November 1, 2009

Not another alibi

It's already the front edge of winter in America's Great Plains. Here, where the air is clear and crisp, there is a passion for walking behind a good dog while hunting pheasants and a good "alibi" for missing a fast-flying bird is an art form.

October 25, 2009

Protecting the image

The American dollar isn't the only currency headed to new lows. After months of drifting along in "the winds of change," America's diplomatic credibility is sinking alongside the greenback. The Obama White House and the so-called mainstream media, preoccupied with hoopla over "Health Care Reform," meaningless drivel about the 2016 Olympics and the vacuous award of a Nobel Peace Prize, have barely noticed the water flooding into our ship of state. Unfortunately, the Iranians, North Koreans, Russians and the Taliban have all been paying attention. Don't count of any of them to help bail out our boat.

October 18, 2009

It’s McChrystal clear

Eight years ago this week, just 25 days after the vicious attacks of Sept. 11, the United States struck back at the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Thirty-three days later, U.S.-supported "Northern Alliance" troops were in Kabul - and the remnants of al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts were in retreat to Kandahar and mountain redoubts along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

October 11, 2009

Chasing Olympic gold

At the conclusion of the 1939 movie "Gone With The Wind," Vivian Leigh, playing Scarlett O'Hara, defers decision on what to do about the major crisis in her life with the phrase, "After all, tomorrow is another day."

October 4, 2009

How to win

Our Fox News "War Stories" team is cleaning our gear and packing up to go home. The special-operations teams that "hosted" us for a half-dozen carefully planned and executed raids against the Taliban have showered us with patches, "challenge coins" and mementos accumulated since we arrived last month. We even got to take showers. While on operations, we've shot hours of videotape of their backs and legs and on their bases; we've taken hundreds of photos - with their cameras because we're not allowed to show most of their faces.

September 28, 2009

WATCH: Ranked choice voting is coming to D.C. — here’s how it works

WATCH: The Sitdown With Alex Swoyer Monica Crowley on a year of historic diplomacy

Will Graham Platner derail Democrats’ 2026 hopes? Tim Constantine & David Bozell

Articles by Oliver North