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Editorial

Politicians, including those in uniform, hate to admit a loss, so they blamed crazed terrorists for the commando attack that killed 17 sailors aboard the USS Cole. The crew had no warning and greater "topside" security wouldn't have mattered. The crew did an amazing job of keeping her afloat, however, this warship was in a combat zone and port attacks should be expected. The USA has Marines to secure advanced naval bases and protect Navy ships, but most are too busy "occupying" Okinawa. Of course the biggest problem are careerist officers who do not trust sailors with weapons. This is nothing new, when the USS Stark was hit by two missiles back in 1988, it was revealed the ships' captain always wore the weapons firing key around his neck, and hid in his cabin during the attack to avoid blame.

Many greedy politicians and military contractors immediately used this tragedy to argue for more military spending. After much pundit speculation, the facts revealed that the Cole did not refuel in Yemen because of a lack of tankers, it had enough fuel. It stopped to give the new pro-western leaders of Yemen "a piece of the action". Yemen is a poor nation, so a few million dollars in Navy fuel business for the current gang in charge is a nice way to buy friends. However, risking American pawns in political chess is dangerous in a war zone.

The USA is engaged in an unofficial war against Iraq, killing hundreds each year. The USA is also involved in a silent civil war in Saudi Arabia, where many Saudis object to permanent U.S. bases in their country. Bob Woodward's book "The Commanders" reveals the problem. After Iraq invaded in Kuwait in 1990, the USA wanted to send troops to protect Saudi Arabia. The Saudi leaders were reluctant, so Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney flew in. Cheney made it clear that the U.S. troops would leave as soon as the Kuwait situation was resolved; "no permanent bases" Cheney promised.

Ten years later, U.S. troops remain at permanent bases, mostly to bomb Iraq every week for no apparent reason. Meanwhile, a wealthy Saudi is sponsoring attacks against American forces to encourage them to leave. So it is no surprise that many Arabs "hate" the American occupiers, and no surprise that American warships operating nearby are attacked. The situation will soon become worse when the ailing "King" Fahd dies. The simple solution is to leave Saudi Arabia and stop the mindless embargo against Iraq.

The big lie is that American troops are needed to protect world oil supplies. From whom? Iran, the only democratic nation in the region, and Iraq are more eager than our allied dictators to produce and sell more oil. The Gulf state dictators already collude to restrain oil production to keep prices high, so it wouldn't matter which dictator ran these "kingdoms". The only major disruptions in the Persian Gulf oil flow have been caused by the United States bombing Kuwait and Iraq, and blockading Iraqi oil export for the past decade. Iraq has the world's second largest oil reserves, so full production would quickly reduce world oil prices.

The U.S. military presence limits world oil supplies and causes ongoing tensions to justify Cold War spending levels. The American people haven't the time or information to know these facts, but they are known to the thousands of U.S. military personnel sentenced to long periods of "service" in this forbidding region. Bin Laden and his followers are using the "body count" strategy to wake up Americans in hopes they will demand a withdrawal. This strategy was successful in Lebanon and Somalia, and it will probably work in Saudi Arabia.

Carlton Meyer editorG2mil@Gmail.com

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December 2000 Articles

have been returned to the Members Library

Letters - comments from G2mil readers

Carrier Escorts Need Escorts - All Navy ships need to embark small escort boats

Anti-Armor Rifles - killers of light armored vehicles

Ballistic Anti-ship missiles - can an ICBM hit a ship?

The Obsolete F-22 - the JSF "F-32" will be superior

Infantry Guns - bring back the "pack" howitzers

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