Columnist.
blacklist (n.): a list of persons who are disapproved of or are to be punished or boycotted. The definition above, from an old Webster's dictionary, was common parlance in the late 1940s and early 1950s as the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee investigated subversive activity, Soviet espionage and pro-communist propaganda. The committee unearthed spies and traitors -- Alger Hiss among them. But when the HUAC turned its attention to Hollywood writers, directors and actors, civil libertarians cried foul. The American Civil Liberties Union and others insist those on the "Hollywood blacklist" were unfairly persecuted for exercising their constitutionally protected rights to freedom of assembly and speech.
WASHINGTON -- It's an unwritten law of modern America that a political campaign speech should last no more than 30 minutes. The lecture candidate Barack Obama delivered on the evening of Jan. 24 in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol came in at just longer than one hour and six minutes. It was full of rhetoric we should expect to hear reiterated from now until Nov. 6. The president's supporters declared his economic message to be "populist." That's liberal-speak for class warfare. In the days since the State of the Union address, politicians and pundits of every stripe have parsed the lengthy remarks to find parts they can challenge or cheer. There is no doubt about what POTUS intends for the U.S. economy. Invoking what he calls the "Buffett rule," Obama promises to raise taxes on the "rich" until they pay their "fair share" -- an amount he has decided should be 30 percent of income. That's important, but even more critical is what he does and doesn't say about real national security and protecting the American people.
WASHINGTON -- On Dec. 31, just hours before a New Year's Eve celebration, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. Section 1245 of the law contains language providing authority to impose economic sanctions on Iran in order to deter the ayatollahs from acquiring nuclear weapons. White House efforts to have the sanctions provision stripped from the bill failed, and the measure became law with a quiet flourish of the presidential pen. Ever since, Washington and Tehran have been waging a war of words. None of this works to the advantage of the American people. Here's why. Tehran replied to the "new sanctions" -- which have yet to be imposed -- with a series of military exercises and threats to close the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which passes nearly 20 percent of the world's supply of petroleum. In a now familiar rhetorical tit for tat, the Obama White House propaganda mill responded by leaking that POTUS had sent a "clear and unequivocal message" through a "secret channel" that cutting the flow of oil would be "unacceptable." Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and others took to the airwaves and print outlets to talk about Iranian nukes and closing the strait as a "red line" for the U.S.
WASHINGTON -- Our so-called mainstream media have launched a new anti-military feeding frenzy. The furor is over a crude 39-second video showing four Marines apparently urinating on the bodies of three dead Taliban combatants. In hysteric rhetoric akin to "news reports" on the 2004 Abu Ghraib photos, hordes of print and broadcast "correspondents" rushed to describe the viral video, which surfaced Jan. 11, as evidence of an "atrocity" and "desecration" that reflects the "depravity" of our military in general and the U.S. Marines in particular. As usual, the effort to denigrate our armed forces means that the potentates of the press ignored far more important stories.
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military had better get ready to do a whole lot more with a whole lot less. That's the bottom line of the so-called "new strategic guidance" issued this week by President Barack Obama during a brief visit to the Pentagon. Flanked by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Obama proudly proclaimed to allies and adversaries alike that the United States is heading toward a much less expensive, far smaller and ultimately less capable military than we've had since before World War II. Titled "Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense," the 16-page document is the result of a "fundamental review" ordered by the White House in April. It purports to provide a strategic framework for addressing present and future threats to the United States and the means of protecting the nation from them now that the "tide of war" in Iraq and Afghanistan is receding. It doesn't live up to the hype.
GEORGETOWN, S.C. -- A year ago, this column questioned whether the 112th Congress -- with its new speaker of the House, John Boehner -- could "overcome the inane policies of its predecessors" and "mend Washington's free-spending ways." We all know how that turned out. This week, as we prepare to ring out 2011 and welcome 2012, President Barack Obama asked for Congress to authorize yet another increase in our national debt -- the third such rise in less than 15 months. Housing prices continue to slide; more than 13 million Americans are unemployed; government spending continues unabated; and America's credit rating is at risk of another downgrade. In January, barring action by Congress and the White House, U.S. defense spending cuts totaling $1.1 trillion over the next four years will begin to take effect. Such an outcome in the midst of these perilous times ought to be unthinkable.
BLUEMONT, Va. -- Four years ago, this annual Christmas column was written from Baquba, Iraq, while our Fox News "War Stories" team was embedded with the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division and special operations units operating against the Iranian-supported Mahdi Army in the outskirts of Baghdad. A year earlier, the Christmas 2006 column was written in Ramadi, Iraq, while we were embedded with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines in what was then the bloodiest place on the planet. And in 2005, this column originated with 3d Battalion, 7th Marines and the 2nd Brigade of the 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania National Guard, in Anbar province, where we documented the first free elections ever held in an Arab country.
WASHINGTON -- They are coming home. For the first time since March 19, 2003, there are no U.S. combat or combat support troops in Iraq. There is still a contingent of U.S. Marines guarding the biggest American embassy in the world and the largest military attache's office at any diplomatic mission. But there is no doubt in anyone's mind -- ally or enemy -- that the war in Iraq is over. The only uncertainty now: Who won? Short answer: America's soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardsmen and Marines -- and the American people whose sons and daughters served in Iraq. Though our commander in chief cannot utter the word "victory," it is. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta -- in Baghdad for a ceremonial "casing of the colors" for U.S. Forces-Iraq -- came close when he said of all who served during eight years and eight months of war: "You came to this 'Land Between the Rivers' again and again and again. You did not know whether you'd return to your loved ones. ... Your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to cast tyranny aside and to offer hope for prosperity and peace to this country's future generations."
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Seventy years ago this week, Japanese Cmdr. Mitsuo Fuchida led an airborne strike force of 49 "Kate" bombers, 40 torpedo bombers, 51 "Val" dive bombers and 43 "Zeke" fighters on the first wave of an attack on Pearl Harbor and plunged America into World War II. At 9:45 that terrible Sunday morning, a second wave of 167 attack aircraft added to the devastation. By the time the surprise attack was over, 3,581 Americans were dead or wounded; the largest naval anchorage in the Pacific was littered with sunken and burning U.S. warships; the best dry dock and ship repair facilities west of California were in shambles; and less than 25 percent of U.S. military aircraft based in Hawaii were still operational.
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Our Fox News crew is here wrapping up our 100th "War Stories" documentary -- with some of the "stars" of previous episodes. Though most of the Marines here are recent veterans of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, their present focus is on the next trouble spots. Thanks to inept national security planning in Washington, there are more vulnerabilities today than there were just three years ago. At the top of the list: Iran. Few of the young Marines we meet here are old enough to remember what happened to the U.S. Embassy in Tehran 32 years ago this month. But the "old guys" do. That's why senior officers and noncommissioned officers here had a déjà vu moment when images of Iranian "students" sacking the British Embassy in Tehran flashed around the world this week.
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Anyone who wonders what to be thankful for this holiday season need only visit a nearby military base. On the eve of Thanksgiving, our Fox News' "War Stories" team came to this sprawling Marine base south of our nation's capital to shoot interviews for an upcoming documentary. What we saw and heard inspired us all. Nearly all the Marines here have served in Iraq, Afghanistan or both theaters of this decadelong war. They know the true meaning of duty, honor and sacrifice. Many of them have lost comrades in arms on bloody battlefields along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and in the shadows of the Hindu Kush. Though my "colleagues" in the mainstream media often portray these campaigns as "lost causes" and "wasteful," that's not how these warriors see it. They know they have made a difference for the country they volunteered to serve.
JUPITER, Fla. -- Not one of the old "frogmen" or young Navy SEALs who gathered this week at the nearby National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum for the annual Muster wants to see another war. Those who came here are veterans of combat spanning from World War II to the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to numerous other unnamed fights around the world. Within their ranks are men -- and their families -- who know what it means to go in harm's way, often without any recognition or public acclaim. The widow of a slain SEAL put it this way: "Before my husband deployed to Afghanistan the last time, he told me, 'It's not important our son know what I did as a SEAL. What is important is that he knows why I did it: so that he would never have to.'" Unfortunately, despite the courage and sacrifice of his parents, their young son may well face a very dangerous future.
CLOVIS, Calif. -- This little town not far from Fresno may be the perfect place to observe Veterans Day as our nation closes a decade of war. A quiet San Joaquin Valley community in the heart of our most populous state, Clovis has lost 10 of its sons -- eight of them from local Buchanan High School -- in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though the Defense Department apparently doesn't keep statistics on per capita losses for American communities, Clovis may be for this war what Bedford, Va., was for World War II. According to local records, 19 "Bedford Boys" -- all from the little Shenandoah Valley town -- died within hours of one another at Normandy's Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. That's why the National D-Day Memorial is in Bedford.
WASHINGTON -- Our head of state is now in Cannes, France, at the G-20 summit, gallivanting with elites from the planet's most powerful economies. For the first time since his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama isn't the center of attention. The stars of this week's party on the French Riviera are German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- architects of a "bailout plan" to save the European Union's artificial euro currency and keep the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) from going bankrupt. It's all a sideshow, designed to convince us that governments can continue to binge on social programs without consequences.
U.S. Virgin Islands -- We arrived at a tiny outpost on St. Thomas on Oct. 26. As we stepped ashore, the gentleman beside me said, "28 years ago at this very minute, I was lining up my 'thirsty' A-7 to land on the deck of the USS Independence (CV-62) not far from here. It was day two of Operation Urgent Fury. We were flying nonstop close air support missions for troops in contact on the island of Grenada." The retired naval aviator went on to describe his admiration for the then commander in chief, who boldly ordered more than 5,000 American troops ashore to prevent the 800 medical students and staff members from being taken hostage by the Cuban-supported communists who had seized control on the island. He added: "It was a high-risk decision, the right thing to do and the 'beginning of the end' of the Soviet empire. President Reagan knew who our enemies were, knew what needed to be done -- and did it." My interlocutor then asked a question I could not answer: "Are there any Ronald Reagan Republicans running for president?"
PIERRE, S.D. -- The good news about Moammar Gadhafi's demise arrived via my cellphone early Thursday morning. A friend from the Reagan administration, remembering the Libyan dictator's attempt to kill my family, called to let me know and added, "You must be very glad to see this day." But it doesn't seem to be a time for celebration. Most of the Libyan people seem to be rejoicing -- and with good reason. They suffered the most under the egomaniacal despot. But unless you are a U.S. Air Force, Navy or Marine pilot who had to brave anti-aircraft fire in Operation Odyssey Dawn, Moammar the Magnificent hasn't posed a serious threat to Americans for years. Now, thanks to the Obama administration's "no boots on the ground" policy for war fighting, America and our allies may actually be more vulnerable.
WASHINGTON -- Official Washington -- meaning the Obama administration, fellow travelers in Congress and their allies in the so-called mainstream media -- here's a quick peek at some recent events, the lead stories they generated and the response by the O-Team. Let me know if you think I'm wrong, but it looks to me as if they have the collective attention span of a fruit fly. For three weeks, several hundred mostly young, media-savvy protesters billing themselves as "occupiers" have been encamped at a small Manhattan park not far from Wall Street. In a pale shadow of what has taken place in Greece, England and Portugal, the New York protesters have tried to "invade" banks, investment houses and the residences of "wealthy Americans" to stage '60s-style sit-ins. Their stated goals are to "stop the machine," "save Social Security," "stop the war" and "bring down the system."
WASHINGTON -- Ten years ago this week, America went to war in Afghanistan. At 1 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 7, 2001, President George W. Bush told the world, "On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al-Qaida terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan." At the conclusion of his seven-minute broadcast from the White House Treaty Room, he pledged: "The battle is now joined on many fronts. We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail." Now, a decade later, his successor will determine whether that pledge is kept.
WASHINGTON -- When the U.S. State Department announced this week that it finally is going to designate the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization, it was a nonevent for most of our countrymen. That's because few Americans know how deadly the organization is. For that we can thank those at Foggy Bottom who are wedded to the naive hope of a near-term "diplomatic breakthrough" in Afghanistan. Couple that misguided belief with the Obama administration's self-deception that the radical Islamic jihad against the West ended with the demise of Osama bin Laden and it's understandable why the Haqqani network is virtually unknown. Here's the short form of why it's important.
WASHINGTON -- Last week, this column prognosticated that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearance at the United Nations General Assembly would be celebrated by those who hate America. That's certainly true. So, too, was the prediction that Ahmadinejad would claim the mantle of "humanitarian" and be showered with praise for the release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal -- the two Americans held by Tehran since they were detained on the Iran-Iraq border in 2009. And then there was the forecast that this week's General Assembly session would be devoted to bashing the United States and Israel, demanding "Palestinian independence" and ignoring the most serious threat to world peace: Iran's nuclear weapons program.
