National Defense

Old lessons for dealing with modern pirates

Sunday’s successful conclusion of the hostage situation off the coast of Somalia, where pirates were holding Captain Richard Philips, captain of an American freighter, is not to be dismissed. The intrepidity of the US Navy Seals who made the on-site decision to act, shooting three pirates on a moving boat from a moving ship —at night!—with one bullet for each is astounding. But even as we reflect on this success, we hear that pirates are attacking yet more vessels. Certainly it doesn’t help that for every success operation against the pirates, there are a half-dozen losses, including the payment of ransoms. Business is very good for the scum of the high seas.

So I have to wonder why the ships of the US Navy and our allies—12 ships in all—are being spread out over millions of square miles. Certainly, rooting the pirates out of their safe havens in Somalia is not an option. They blend into the populace; many of them are teenagers. You’d have to have a scorched earth policy.

But why not take a lesson from history and do what the great navies of the 18th and 19th century did? Instead of protecting the water and racing to the aid of lone ships, why don’t the cooperating navies form up convoys of ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean and protect the convoys. Then, for good measure, assign US Marine detachments to US-flagged vessels and encourage non-US vessels to hire private soldiers to protect the ships from boarding.

I can’t be the only person to think of this. But I haven’t see anyone explain why they don’t do this.

As for the baloney about where to try the pirates, as if they’re going to bring them here to the US for trial in American courts, let’s not forget how we used to deal with them: efficiently and effectively in military courts on the warships that caught them.

Photo credit: Flickr.com user Earl - What I Saw 2.0. Used under a Creative Commons license

Campaign promises meet reality

It’s one thing to second-guess the sitting US president from the campaign stump as a candidate—or as an opinionated blogger—but it’s quite another thing to sit at the president’s desk, know what he knows, and make decisions that affect the lives of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people. I think Barack Obama is learning that lesson. Obama is now saying that he may have to back off from some campaign promises, including his vow to shut down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay where terrorists and other ne’er-do-wells are held.

He also acknowledged that his campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay will be more of a challenge than anticipated.

Obama said that while some evidence against terrorism suspects may be tainted by the tactics used to obtain it, that doesn’t change the fact they are “people who are intent on blowing us up.”

Looks like someone got his presidential national security briefing. Obama now knows what Bush knows, which is a heck of a lot more than the masses of people who have been second-guessing Bush for the last eight years. Obama has had a big heaping helping of reality, which we can hope he will assimilate and respond to responsibly. If not, we’re in for a very rough four years.

Update: And don’t let the latest news headlines fool you. Read the rumors they’re reporting and what you’ll see is that Obama is supposed to be signing an executive order the first week or day in office to begin the process of closing. Which means that someday the prisons will close. Which means that nothing has changed except a symbolic act designed to appease his liberal base.

Obama’s continuation of Bush’s war policies

Just a musing here: I’ve noticed that as Obama has assembled his foreign policy/defense team, the people who will be prosecuting the War on Terror look a lot like the people who were Bush’s team to prosecute the War. And while there have been some notable—even important—changes of direction, in the main much of the campaign rhetoric now seems muted.

Is it because that was just red meat for the campaign? Are they keeping their powder dry until after the inauguration? Or maybe—and this is just pure speculation—after he was elected Obama was given access to all the information Bush has had and now that he knows what Bush knows Obama recognizes that Bush has been doing what has to be done. In all likelihood there is much more to the overall National Security and terrorism picture than any of the bloggers and pundits and journalists and even individual Beltway insiders know.

If this were true, it would be some small comfort to know Obama recognizes this.

But it is likely that this idle speculation is completely off-base and an attempt by my subconscious to formulate a reality in which Obama is not going to be as bad a president as I’m afraid he will be.

A priest’s recollections of Pearl Harbor

The late Father Eugene Morin grew up in Quincy, Mass., but was serving as a priest at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral on December 7, 1941 and shared his recollection of the “day that shall live in infamy” in a letter he wrote in 1978. Fr. Morin died in 1986.

The letter begins by recounting the facts of the day, the toll of the dead and the ships sunk, and how the US responded to the sneak attack. But then he gives his own personal account, how he celebrated the early Mass that day and how another Mass was interrupted by the sounds and then the news. How they waited for news of what was happening in those days before the Internet and 24-hours TV news. How the priests were called to the makeshift hospitals set up in a Catholic high school and a convent school to provide Extreme Unction to the injured and dying.

One thing I must say and I say this with a great deal of admiration for our young servicemen. Every one died a hero’s death. Strange as it may seem when death approaches we always think of those we love most. Those perhaps we may in our youth and forgetfulness have neglected. The thoughts and memories of all the young men I prepared for death, I am proud to say were about their dear parents. They wanted them to know how much they loved them and what they meant to them while they were growing up but could not express in words due to shyness the love, kindness and understanding they had in their young hearts.

In all my priestly life I have never heard such sincere, thoughtful and prayerful confessions. All of those I attended during the thirty-four hours I worked at Sacred Hearts Convent School went to meet their heavenly Creator well prepared to merit an eternal reward. It is an act of heroic sacrifice to give one’s life for one’s country. During my stay at this temporary hospital I took care of more than 500 young men. Many of them I gently closed their eyes in death, while some I had to leave, leaving this duty to others.

When other priests took their places in the hospital, they returned to the cathedral and, after a short rest, spent day and night hearing confessions of the people who flocked to the church for solace in an uncertain time, especially the servicemen preparing to face their new enemy. Remember, most of these people had no idea if a Japanese invasion of the islands was imminent.

He also recalls that under martial law, gatherings of more than 10 people were not allowed and so there very few public Masses, even on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. He also tells that tale of having dinner with Admiral Chester Nimitz and Bishop James Sweeney when the admiral received the call that the Battle for Midway had begun. While swearing them to secrecy, he asked the bishop to call all rectories and convents and ask for special prayers, without saying what the prayers were for. Fr. Morin ends with another tale of heroism:

Regarding the USS Arizona I have mentioned it on the first page of this article. However, I would like to mention that the Chaplain, Father Schmidt, was a very dear friend of mine. He and I had dinner together the night before the attack. To be exact it was December 6th, 1941.

Father Schmidt was vesting for Mass in one of the mess rooms when the attack began. As the ship began to sink after so many direct hits he helped many of the young men to escape through the port holes of the ship but when it came his turn to leave he told other young men to go ahead of him. He was not able to escape and thus he lies with the other young men who were trapped in the ship when it sank.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Photo credit: Public domain.

A gift of life that you may live

A soldier from the next town over in Beverly, Mass., died in battle in Afghanistan last week and his funeral was celebrated on Friday. The homily from Spc. Stephen Fortunato’s funeral Mass by Father David Barnes, pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea parish, is beautiful and moving.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

At the very founding of this Nation, our forefathers recognized and acknowledged what was — in their words — self-evident. Namely, that every human life is sacred. And, that these inalienable rights — of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — are given not by an act of law or by man made decree, but rather are given as a gift from the Creator. The Founders declared that it is the role of government to secure and protect these inalienable and self-evident rights. Today — at home and abroad — the sacredness of human life is everywhere under attack. Today, what was self-evident to those who came before us is often obscured by ideology, by a culture of death and by evil.

Today we mourn the death of Stephen Fortunato. Stephen was a soldier. The soldier does not primarily exist to take human life, but to protect human life. What inspired Stephen to enlist in the Army was when he saw the inalienable rights of his fellow Americans threatened in the terrorist attacks of September 11th. In order to defend and to protect the life, liberty and happiness of others, Stephen voluntarily surrendered his own freedoms. He gave up the right to be with his own family and friends so that others could enjoy that right. He gave up the warmth of home and familiarity, so that others could enjoy such things. He gave up the right to come and go as he pleased so that others could enjoy that right. And last week, on a roadside in Afghanistan, he made the supreme sacrifice and surrendered his own right to life in order to secure and to protect the lives of his countrymen. Our Lord tells us that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s own life for a friend.

On an October morning in 1983, it was actually October 2nd — the Feast of the Guardian Angels — a baby boy was carried by his family into this church and he was baptized. In that moment, Stephen Fortunato was given the promise of immortality; the promise of eternal life. From that moment on, he belonged to Christ. Christ, the Good Shepherd, was forever at the side of Stephen.

Today, we — who live half a world away — cannot help but wonder what the last moments of Stephen’s life were like. Perhaps you wish that you could have been there with him as he breathed his last; with him to comfort and console him; with him to express your love and affection; with him to say goodbye. But this was not possible. In this way, Stephen’s sacrifice is also your sacrifice. You have given a husband, a son, a brother, a grandson, a friend to a grateful nation. That nation and its citizens owe you and Stephen a debt of gratitude. Stephen was rightly outraged when others attempted to steal the God given rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from his countrymen. Stephen’s response to that outrage was to sacrifice his own rights to protect and defend the rights of others. All of us who are gathered here today might well learn from his example. Imagine how much our nation would benefit if there were more persons who — like Stephen — were dedicated to protecting the inalienable rights of others — the right to life, to liberty and to the pursuit of happiness.

Although you are undoubtedly consoled by the military honors that Stephen deservedly receives today, our gathering here in this church reminds us that when the volleys have all been fired and the sound of the bugle has faded, there is something that lasts forever — something that remains.

When Stephen entered into the valley of the shadow of death on a roadside in a faraway land, he was not alone. You — his family — made sure of that. You gave him something that lasts forever. When you carried him into this church 25 years ago, you introduced Stephen to the Good Shepherd. And Christ has never left the side of Stephen. “Even though I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. With thy rod and thy staff, thou givest me comfort.” Christ, the Good Shepherd, has led the way through the valley of death and in his resurrection, he has conquered man’s greatest enemy — death itself. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, went ahead of Stephen to prepare a place for him in the Father’s house. When Stephen closed his eyes to this world, Christ was beside him. And it is our Christian hope that when Stephen opened his eyes again, the Good Shepherd welcomed him to life eternal.

On an October morning 25 years ago, you carried your son into this church, and entrusted him to Christ the Good Shepherd. You trusted that Christ, the Good Shepherd would stay forever at his side and guide him beside restful waters and would refresh his soul. This morning, your family, your community, your parish, your country, carries your son again into this church. We ask God to have mercy on the soul of Stephen and to purify him. We give thanks to Almighty God for Stephen’s life and for his devoted and complete service. We also ask God to give to each one of us a deep and abiding friendship with Jesus Christ — for he is the way to the Father’s House. And apart him we can do nothing.

Stephen began his journey to eternal life here in this church — dedicated to Mary, Star of the Sea. Today marks the end of Stephen’s mission; of his journey. May Mary, Star of the Sea, now guide him from the troubled waters of Earth to the safe harbors of heaven. May Christ, the Good Shepherd, now open to Stephen the doors of the Father’s House, and may Stephen discover within its halls what he so willingly and valiantly sacrificed for others — true life, true liberty and everlasting happiness. Amen.

Photo credit: Flickr.com user underbunny. Used under a Creative Commons license.

We remember

Five men have been awarded the Medal of Honor for valor and bravery above and beyond the call of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. All of them posthumously. Four died in Iraq and one in Afghanistan: two soldiers, one Marine, two Navy SEALS.

The Boston Herald remembers them in an editorial on this Memorial Day, “A new generation earns greatness”:

 
• Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis, 19, of Knox, Pa.
 
• Navy SEAL Michael A. Monsoor, 25, of Garden Grove, Calif. (pictured above)
 
• Marine Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, 22, of Scio, N.Y.
 
• Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, 33, of Tampa, Fla.
 
• Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy of Patchogue, N.Y.

Read the story for brief explanations of how they died, giving their lives to save others. These were ordinary men, not superheroes, who entered military service for their own reasons, but in the end joined the long blue and khaki line of men and women who have served to the full measure of bravery and commitment. When the time came, their honor and courage were weighed and found worthy.

Photo credit: US Navy photo via Wikimedia Commons

Anti-War nuts can’t afford dictionaries

Yes, we’ve all been there: embarrassing spelling errors in our work for all the world to see. Heck, I should be the last person to criticize.

Yet, if you’re Cindy Sheehan, the face of the anti-war movement in the US, in San Francisco, anti-war moonbat central, you’d think you would take extra care before standing in front of this sign:

They will exploit the 4,000 heroes

As of the most recent figures I saw today, the death toll for servicemen and woman in Iraq since 2003 stands at 3,990. That is 3,990 heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Be prepared for when that number reaches the entirely symbolic round figure of 4,000. No matter whether the pace of deaths has slowed or how much has been accomplished, be assured that the mainstream media will play it as a milestone of the long defeat of the United States, the inevitable stagnation of the most powerful military in the world in a new quagmire.

Don’t believe a word of it. It is all political theater designed to exploit those deaths for electoral and ideological gain. Instead, listen to the guys on the ground in their own words, unfiltered by the media. Michael Yon’s site is a good place to start. He’s no Pollyanna, but he’s no reflexive anti-war nut either.

But watch the media storm that will boil up. It’s coming. Mark my words.

A little detour through the police state

It’s getting to the point that traveling by air between two cities in this great, democratic republic of ours requires a brief detour through a police state called “TSA”.

I don’t mind security rules that prevent terrorists from hijacking planes. In fact, I wish they’d use security measures that actually worked instead of the pseudo-security that gives the appearance of deterrence without providing it.

Today’s example: A Boston family flying from Chicago to Manchester, NH, decides to stock up on baby food for the flight, keeping mind lurid tales of hours trapped in airliners on runways as well as the unpredictability of winter air travel. TSA guidelines allow an exception to the “no liquids” rule and let you to carry on a “reasonable quantity” of baby food, but do not provide any specific limit.

The family has about one-third of their child’s food confiscated by a TSA screener because the screener and his supervisor thought it was “unreasonable.” Unbelievable.

According to Dr. Soni, the T.S.A. officers said they would need a “doctor’s note” to bring on all of the food. He said he pointed out that he and his wife were doctors, and then offered to get a pediatrician colleague on the phone. [This was not acceptable, evidently.]

The sensible thing to do in this kind of situation is to file your complaint and move on to make your flight, which is what Dr. Soni said he and his wife did.

The T.S.A. officers confiscated some of the food. “They divided it up. They took a jar of prunes and one of bananas, and I think a bottle of formula,” he said.

This is what really bugs me. The only security-related reason to set a limit on how much food one can bring on the plane is because the TSA thinks a terrorist might be trying to smuggle a weapon disguised as food. So at the point they’re confiscating the food, they must suspect this is not food but a weapon. So why would you allow any of the food on board?

On the other hand, if you’re merely a bureaucrat arbitrarily enforcing a rule, then you are satisfied by the act of bringing them into compliance with the rule, regardless of the ongoing threat. That’s someone else’s problem.

If this little family had in fact been a terror cell in disguise, it looks like the screeners left them with enough “materials” to cause a lot of damage to plane, if not take it down entirely. Happily this family was exactly what it seems and the true victims here are the child whose food was taken, the parents who were embarrassed, and the rest of the flying public who must walk through TSA checkpoints with carefully neutral expressions, carefully watching our step and our words, lest we be singled out for search and/or seizure, maybe making us miss our flights, at best, or in jail on trumped-up charges, at worst.

Ironically, I think this is one area where conservatives, liberals, and libertarians can all agree: Airport security is a danger to our civil liberties, to the airline industry, and to our homeland security. Probably more of a danger than to terrorists themselves.

And now if I end up on a no-fly watch list, it will just be an object lesson in what I’ve just written.

China planting Trojan horses in US electronics?

Computer security experts warn that a very sophisticated computer virus originating in China has been found in US consumer electronics, including some digital photo frames sold during Christmas.

     

An insidious computer virus recently discovered on digital photo frames has been identified as a powerful new Trojan Horse from China that collects passwords for online games - and its designers might have larger targets in mind. “It is a nasty worm that has a great deal of intelligence,” said Brian Grayek, who heads product development at Computer Associates, a security vendor that analyzed the Trojan Horse.

 

They say it’s particularly nasty because it hides so effectively from anti-virus software. In fact, the researchers say that this is no “script kiddie” exploit, but a very professional piece of engineering.

So who is behind this? I have to wonder whether it’s the Communist government. Did you know that back in the early 90s, the CIA implanted a virus in a computer printer that was sold to Saddam Hussein’s military in Iraq that when activated took down a major portion of their anti-aircraft defense system?

What if, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union had been our major source of consumer goods. Do you think they would have hesitated for a moment to leverage that advantage? Well, we’ve given China that advantage.

I doubt the Pentagon is sourcing laser printers from China, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that a hostile government would want to lay the groundwork for communications and economic chaos in the US, should that become necessary. And don’t doubt for a moment that the People’s Republic of China and its People’s Army see the US as its enemy, regardless of how we view them.

Consider for a moment how much of all the electronics you own are made in mainland China. That new iPhone? China. Lenovo notebook computers are Chinese. Computers, printers, automotive electronics, cameras, iPods, and, yes, digital photo frames, among scores of other products.

Now think about this: What if, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union had been our major source of consumer goods. Do you think they would have hesitated for a moment to leverage that advantage? When Carter cut wheat shipments in response to the invasion of Afghanistan, do you doubt that the Politburo would have considered activating its secret weapon? Well, we’ve given China that advantage. Perhaps this virus is the first glimpse of the result of that decision. Something to think about.

Iraqi Muslims: Christians, come home

Embedded freelance writer and photographer Michael Yon reports from Baghdad that as a Chaldean Catholic church in Baghdad re-opened last week, Muslims filled the front pews as a sign that they wish their Catholic brothers and sisters to come home. They were joined by members of the US 2-12 Infantry and the Iraqi 3rd Division who secured the neighborhood, as well as Bishop Shlemon Warduni, Auxiliary Bishop of the St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Diocese for Chaldeans and Assyrians in Iraq.

Today, Muslims mostly filled the front pews of St John’s. Muslims who want their Christian friends and neighbors to come home. The Christians who might see these photos likely will recognize their friends here. The Muslims in this neighborhood worry that other people will take the homes of their Christian neighbors, and that the Christians will never come back. And so they came to St John’s today in force, and they showed their faces, and they said, “Come back to Iraq. Come home.” They wanted the cameras to catch it. They wanted to spread the word: Come home. Muslims keep telling me to get it on the news. “Tell the Christians to come home to their country Iraq.”

Yon quotes the ranking American soldier, Lt. Colonel Stephen Michael, as saying that when al Quaeda came to the neighborhood to harass and then kill the Christians, the Muslims stood up for them, but eventually many had to flee.

I’d also encourage you to look closely at the photos of the liturgy being celebrated: ad orientem and other clues that tell us that innovations of the past 30 years in the West have not reach the Chaldean Catholics.

On Veteran’s Day

Fr. Richard Erickson, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Boston and chaplain in the US Air Force with the rank of colonel, gave an interview with the a local TV station on the occasion of Veteran’s Day, reflecting on his service in Iraq, whether he would go back, and comparing it to serving in Boston.

And I would like to add a thank you to all Veterans. It is your sacrifices that teach us the cost of peace and freedom because they so often imitate the sacrifice of Christ, especially those who gave their lives in service.

Comrades of Foreign Wars

The ice cream shop across the street has a sign in its window advertising a “military memories” breakfast at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post tomorrow. The breakfast is to benefit the Old Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea, Massachusetts, which is a good and honorable cause.

The poster includes martial images of American military might including a soldier, a warship, and a couple of fighter jets. Being an admirer of all flying things, I looked closer to clarify whether the twin-tailed aircraft was an Air Force F-15 Eagle or a Navy/Marine F/A-18 Hornet. Much to my surprise I realized that it was a Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker, a Soviet fighter. On a poster for an event benefiting US veterans. Oops!

That would be like advertising a brunch for retired priests with an image of an Orthodox monk. Not the same thing at all.

So, I come home and point this out to Melanie and all she can say is: “You’re so weird.” What? Why?

What’s Syria been hiding?

Rod writes about Israel’s recent airstrikes in Syria. which have been virtually unreported and unremarked upon, except in the blogosphere, as far as I can tell.

An ex-Army friend writes this morning with deep unease about the recent event in which Israeli jets attacked a purported Syrian nuke site. He wonders if it’s connected to this week’s assassination of a Christian parliamentarian in Lebanon. We’re trying to figure out what just happened in Syria. It doesn’t make sense to me that Syria is trying to start its own nuke program. Surely they can’t be under any illusions that Israel would allow that. Maybe they were doing precisely that … or maybe, as my friend suggests, the Syrians were planning to get nuclear material to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

What really happened here? Any guesses?

I think it’s quite clear what got attacked: The places that Syria was storing Saddam’s WMD. Other reports I’ve seen said quite a number of Iranian engineers were also killed in the attacks.

How did America form such men and women?

Fr. Paul McNellis, SJ, philosophy professor at Boston College and Vietnam veteran Green Beret, posted the following at the Democracy Project. It’s a letter from an Army reserve chaplain, Maj. Jim Higgins, about an experience he had last May.

I recently attended a showing of “Spiderman 3” here at LSA Anaconda. We have a large auditorioum we use for movies as well as memorial services and other large gatherings. As is the custom back in the States, we stood and snapped to attention when the National Anthem began before the main feature. All was going as planned until about three-quarters of the way through the National Anthem the music stopped. Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000 18-22 year-olds back in the States? I imagine there would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude comments, and everyone would sit down and call for a movie. Of course, that is, if they had stood for the National Anthem in the first place.

Here, the 1,000 Soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes fixed forward.

The music started again. The Soldiers continued to quietly stand at attention. And again, at the same point, the music stopped. What would you expect to happen? Even here I would imagine laughter as everyone sat down and expected the movie to start.

Here, you could have heard a pin drop. Every Soldier stood at attention. Suddenly there was a lone voice, then a dozen, and quickly the room was filled with the voices of a thousand Soldiers:

And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

It was the most inspiring moment I have had here in Iraq. I wanted you to know what kind of Soldiers are serving you here.

They know what they’re over there for. Makes you proud that you have such men and women and serving you in the cause of freedom and defense.