W. Thomas Smith Jr.

Royal Laotian parachutists over S.C.

(I am rather surprised that you did not question being “awarded” Royal Laotian para wings, a country which has not existed for 35 years. But I gather that you did not see this so-called Laotian General -Maj. Gen. Khambang Sibounheuang,- in his made up uniform. As an Army officer I am surprised that you would not question the number of phoney items on the uniform, such as wearing the French Abn Beret badge, not the Laotian, the USA CIB, SF DUI,etc. and one could go on If you really want a story, you might like to take the time to read who this so-called General really is, as exposed 20 years ago in Senate Hearings. He has been conning the military community for many years and continues. Senate Select Committee - XXXVII Dissemination of Unreliable Information Harry Pugh harryfp@comcast.net)

BLACK HAWK DOWN commander on winning the war on terror

[originally published in HUMAN EVENTS] In the movie, Black Hawk Down, actor Tom Sizemore plays the role of real-life U.S. Army Ranger Lt. Col. (today retired Col.) Danny R. McKnight, the hard-bitten convoy commander whose inspirational leadership literally kept his men alive during the near-disastrous Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993.

White House official calls terrorist group “a very interesting organization”  


The downward spiral toward coffee and pastries between the White House and one of the world’s bloodiest, most-notorious terrorist organizations continues. And based on a Tuesday report in Reuters, this spiral may be tightening into an irrecoverable flat spin.

Rita Cosby talks-up new book about her war-hero father

“QUIET HERO: Secrets from My Father's Past” (Simon & Schuster, May 2010) by three-time Emmy winner and New York Times bestselling author Rita Cosby hits bookstores today. But the book is unlike anything the former Fox News Channel and MSNBC primetime show-host and current special correspondent for CBS’s Inside Edition has ever written or reported.

Four Questions for Dr. Walid Phares on the Iranian Threat Report

A new U.S. Defense Department report was submitted to Congress, Monday, detailing “near-term and longer-term threats posed by Iran, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its desire to extend its influence in the Middle East.” But the line causing the most buzz is “With sufficient foreign assistance, Iran could probably develop and test an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM] capable of reaching the United States by 2015.”

Five Questions for Dr. Walid Phares on the Nuclear Security Summit

On Monday, the U.S. will host the leaders of 46 countries at a two-day nuclear security summit: Many of the attending governments urging that the summit serve as a benchmark for a renewal of international focus to prevent nuclear terrorism. Ironically, the summit is taking place a few days after the Iranian regime, which constantly thumbs its nose at the international community, celebrated its so-called “National Day of Nuclear Technology.”

Poland will Survive this day

We Americans far too-often take our staunchest allies for granted, forgetting that we are not the only ones who – over the past 200-plus years of our relatively short existence – have been the standard bearers of freedom and democracy throughout the world.

‘Mission first, men always’

Rarely do I publicly endorse candidates for political office, though I have often expressed disdain for political candidates and elected officials (please don't get me started on that nest of usurpers on Capitol Hill). But there are in fact times when the integrity of a candidate seems so unshakeable, that I cannot help but rally around his or her campaign.

Violence in Iran: What the West Needs to Know

The violent crackdown continues in the wake of Iran's disputed June 12 presidential elections in which -- according to the Wall Street Journal -- "hard-line clerics have rallied behind Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in supporting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declared landslide poll victory."

Hizballah’s Phoneprints All Over Hariri Assassination?

The Lebanon-based Jihadist terrorist group, Hizballah, is now believed to have been directly involved in the 2005 Valentine's Day Massacre of 23 people in Beirut – including former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al Hariri (the primary target of the bomb-assassins) – according to a May 23 article in DER SPIEGEL.

The World in Denial about Hizballah

In a May 2 article (published in the New York Post and elsewhere), Kenneth Bandler, communications director for the American Jewish Committee, writes, “The case of ‘Hizballah's man in New York’ offers a compelling glimpse into the expansive world of 21st-century terrorism, where democratic free-speech rights are exploited by terror groups as part of their war against the West.”

The first-ever MAJ. GEN. JAMES E. LIVINGSTON AWARD

The Columbia, S.C. law firm of Rogers Townsend & Thomas was presented the first-ever MAJ. GEN. JAMES E. LIVINGSTON AWARD, Thursday, for the firm’s sizeable financial and volunteer-manpower contributions to the 2010 National Medal of Honor Convention. And since the presentation – in which I introduced Lt. Gen. Garry L. Parks, who presented the award – we’ve had multiple requests for a transcript of my introductory remarks.

Hizballah Gets Away with Murder, Again

Hizballah’s thugs are at it again – as they so-often are despite scant-if-any media coverage of their ongoing activities aimed at achieving complete political and military dominance over Lebanon, which is why their operations are so often successful in that country. And it is why their strategic/political leverage continues to strengthen unabated.

Phares: Analysis of the Munich debate on Russia, Iran and Afghanistan


In an article for Human Events, my friend and colleague Clare M. Lopez laments that the Obama administration is playing a game of international appeasement with terror-sponsoring, nearly nuclear Iran to sate the appetite of a segment of Obama’s political constituency. And they’re likely doing it at the expense of U.S. national security. “An 8 February 2009 speech by Vice President Joe Biden (in Munich, of all places) did note U.S. readiness to take pre-emptive action against Iran if it does not abandon its nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism, but also repeated that the U.S. is open to talks,” writes Lopez, vice pres. of the Intelligence Summit and a former CIA operations officer. “This is what your mother always warned you against: mixed signals.”

Combat Leadership Lessons

Review of LEADERSHIP: Combat Leaders and Lessons (Essays by Members of the Class of 1959, United States Military Academy)

Lebanon’s Sleiman schmoozing with Ahmadinejad

Following a recent lecture I gave to a group of extremely bright, young U.S. Navy and Marine Corps officer candidates, I was asked why the Shia terrorist group Hizballah—being the global threat it is—rarely headlines any major daily newspaper in the mainstream media.

Losing the Lebanese Front: “Are We Crazy?”

In the wake of Sunday’s counterterrorist raid into Syria by U.S. special operations forces, a number of America’s traditional enemies – specifically Iran and the leaders of its regionally based terrorist allies and proxy armies, including Hizballah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and others – have sharply condemned the U.S. action.

Former CIA Ops Officer on Hizballah

Among my sources for a recent piece, “Are We Funding the Lebanese Army or Hizballah?” (Human Events, Oct. 20, 2008), was my friend and colleague, Clare M. Lopez, who – when I mentioned to her my concerns regarding Hizballah’s having wormed its way into the legitimate Lebanese Defense apparatus as an official component of the army – said to me, “It’s actually the other way around. The army now appears to be part of Hizballah.”

The Middle-East American Vote – Who is for Whom?

A conversation about the forthcoming U.S. presidential election with Dr. Walid Phares.

Heroic Humility

GIANTS OF MEN: That was to be my title until my friend, nationally syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, beat me to the punch with her title, Giants Among the Lilliputians. Of course, I played up the bit with her about great minds thinking alike. But I’m not sure it was as much about great minds as it was the great obviousness of whom the guests of honor were at a reception hosted by Kathleen and her husband Woody Cleveland last Tuesday. The soiree – a gathering of the regional gentry; a string ensemble; bagpipes; ladies escorted by Marines in dress blues, Navy midshipmen, and cadets from the local military academy; plenty of Southern delicacies; wine, whiskey, and what have you – was held at the Cleveland’s 182-year-old antebellum home in Camden, S.C.