I saw this article on the events in Jordan and one thing immediatly struck me.
It was this one simple line: "Both vessels left after the attack as a precaution, he said."
Just WHAT message does this send to our enemy? They don't even have to damage equipment or kill any soldiers for our army to turn tail and run, thats what. I'm sure that that is not the feeling the personnel aboard those vessels
would have preferred to bestow, but that is the propaganda that will soon be forthcoming over the Arab networks.
Remember that it is internationally recognized that an attack on any of our military assests constitutes an act of war, yes, I recognize that Jordan was not responsible for that act, and should not be held accountable as the attacker, BUT, I truly the proper response SHOULD have been an assault on those responsible. These were WAR ships with the capability of mounting a pinpoint response, not some hapless cruise ship with helpless civilians on board.
Five minutes after the rocket's exhaust was observed, there should have been a flight of helo's taking out the attackers position, and maybe a small contingent of highly armed ground troops mopping up after the helos.
Provacative? you BET! Intrusive on Jordanian sovereignty? Undoubtably!
Should we care? Not one iota!
A country is responsible for the safety of foreign vessals in their ports, whether they be military or civilian, if the host country can't do the job, then it behooves a military vessal to protect itself in the best manner possible. You may say that they did so by leaving the area, but you have to remember that actions have consequences on future events, by this action, we've declared it to be open season on all our vessels in any foreign port.
There would have been diplomatic consequences of military action taking place in a non-combatant nation, but those consequences would be less than what we're faced with now. Since the vessels were there to take part in a joint US/Jordanian military exercise, it could have been excused as part of the training in joint operations.
One can only hope is that Jordanian forces capture the terrorists and allow their extradition to the U.S. or Gitmo. By the information in the article, there seems to be quite a bit of intell on these Islamofacists, one wonders how they can know so much and yet not apprehend them....
Posted by Delftsman3 at August 20, 2005 03:43 PM | TrackBackfor our army to turn tail and run.
Not to split hairs, but it was the Navy, not the army. We would have gone after the shitheads and apologized later for invading Jordan.
Posted by: arnybryan at August 29, 2005 05:16 AM