Oliver North is a former United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel who served as a National Security Council staff member during the Iran–Contra affair, a political scandal involving…
War of the Waves: Combating Espionage in Embassy Moscow
U.S. relations with Moscow through the decades have been problematic at best while the embassy itself has been the subject…
Chile’s Coup Against Salvador Allende and the Truth Behind “Missing”
In 1973, political tensions were high in Chile, with conflict arising between the socialist President Salvador Allende and the more…
A Secret Betrayal — Kurdish Refugees in Iran
Between 1961 and 1975, the relationship between the Kurds and the Iraqi government was especially tumultuous. In 1961, the First…
Delivering the Mail and Avoiding Martial Law in South Korea, 1987
Chun Doo-hwan, president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988, seized power in 1979 and crushed many democratization movements during…
A Completely Lawless Place – Beirut and the Assassination of Ambassador Meloy and Robert Waring
The Lebanese Civil War was a 15-year conflict that took the lives of more than 130,000 people. Throughout the early…
Sic Semper Tyrannis – The Assassination of El Jefe, May 30, 1961
Rafael Trujillo, El Jefe, ruled the Dominican Republic as dictator from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Trujillo gained prominence…
The Attack on the U.S. Compound in Benghazi — September 11, 2012
The attack began the night of September 11, 2012, at a compound that is meant to protect the consulate building in Benghazi,…
Tom Clancy Bombs Korea
Remember when renegade South Korean soldiers set off a bomb in Seoul during a festival and make it look like it was done by…
Dealing with a PR Disaster – The U.S. Bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade
On May 7, 1999, U.S. warplanes accidentally dropped laser-guided bombs on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during NATO’s intervention in…