re: "Chinese Dragons and Russian Bears"

"Sam Huntington" at Always On Watch ("Semper Vigilans") reviewed strategic issues involving our near-peer competitors.

Money quote(s):

"(A) far more dangerous situation is developing in Asia. No surprise, Americans are not hearing about any of this from the state-run media. Here are a few examples:

· China is claiming island territory within fifty miles of the Philippines.

· Chinese frigates regularly intruded Philippine territorial waters.

· Chinese ships fired upon Philippine fishing boats.

· Chinese naval vessels rammed Vietnamese fishing boats (See Note 1)

· Chinese accost Indian naval vessels operating off the coast of Vietnam, demanding to know why they are operating in Chinese waters.

· Chinese military aircraft intrude into Taiwanese air space.

· China intruded Japanese mainland territorial waters on 14 occasions.

· China intruded Okinawa territorial waters on 10 occasions.

· China created six major incidents with the US Navy at sea.

· Raise your hand if you aren’t aware that North Korea is China’s redheaded stepchild.

Note 1: Vietnam possesses one of the world’s largest armies: (China: 4.5 million, Vietnam: 5.9 million)."

You know the one about amateurs studying tactics and professionals studying logistics?

Well, in terms of international relations, geopolitics, and grand strategy, the professionals are studying China.

"Danger of a regional conflict is real. The consequence to China’s arrogance has been a dramatic increase in military spending among Southeast Asian countries. Australia, Japan, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan have all dedicated billions of dollars on new or upgraded military hardware. The United States is upgrading naval facilities in Guam —so much so that Representative Hank Johnson(D-GA) worries the island may capsize. Nevertheless, all of these countries recognize the wisdom of pooling their resources to keep China in check; Japan has taken the lead in establishing mutual defense cooperatives with Australia, South Korea, India, and the United States. Singapore has offered to provide bases for the US Navy."

CAA no longer worries that Guam will become overburdened, over-balanced, and capsize, having received assurances that Guam possesses a sufficiently sturdy keel and gyroscopic stabilizer.

"Owing to the fact that we don’t know what motivates Chinese behavior, the Australian General Staff worries that a mistake could lead to disastrous consequences —particularly when it is likely that China will attempt to use its military to enforce a Chinese Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The problem is that while demanding that other nations treat Chinese EEZs as its sovereign territory, China routinely refuses to acknowledge the EEZs of other nations. From the standpoint of international law, EEZs are not sovereign territory. We can therefore see how China might regard the US Navy’s mission to safeguard open sea-lanes as an intolerable trespass —a situation that could lead to deadly confrontation."

It's the old "what's-mine-is-mine-what's-yours-is-negotiable" attitude turned somewhat sideways: China will use existing international norms and fora to its own advantage and ignore those which infringe upon its own interests. That's what one does when one is the center of the Earth, after all.

"Some politicians argue that given China’s dependence on global trade, a deadly confrontation is unlikely. They may have forgotten that economic ties did not hinder German aggression at the beginning of the 20^th Century —a costly mistake for France. ....but here is where we find the real and present danger. Defense cuts may encourage China to challenge allied nations within the region of Southeast Asia —they are that arrogant."

Nor did close economic ties deflect World War I; for that matter, the United States' close economic ties with Saudi Arabia deter the 9/11 attacks.

(Marx notwithstanding, man is not solely, nor even primarily, an economic animal.)

"From Russia’s perspective, there couldn’t be a better time to threaten the United States and NATO with pre-emptive strikes unless we agree to cancel the so-called Missile Defense Shield, designed as a safeguard from Iranian ICBMs."

This seems a little over-the-top; threatening pre-emptive strikes is way more sabre-rattling than is necessary. Russia has far more effective economic and political levers to pull than jacking things up on the defcon meter.

"If one understands international relations, Russia’s timing couldn’t be better. We should anticipate this sort of behavior by an adversary whenever they perceive American leadership as weak, incompetent, ineffective, or confused."

Harsh words, but hardly unwarranted.

The "reset" button must have been like those ones installed near crosswalks: not really wired to anything but they give pedestrians something to do with their hands while waiting for the lights to change.

"This situation should once again remind us that American politicians and diplomats seldom learn important lessons of history. America cannot afford another war right now. Neither can we afford the perception of weakness, incompetence, or abject stupidity. We continue to live in a dangerous world"

Diplomats actually aren't slouches when it comes to learning their history lessons; however if you expand your definition of "diplomat" beyond those actually trained and experienced in it to those who practice it on our behalf at the highest levels....

"Rather than facing a deadly and costly regional conflict in Southeast Asia, it would be far less expensive to deter Chinese aggression vis-à-vis a strong military presence along the Pacific Rim. As for the Russian Bear, they understand but one thing: force or its promise."

5/4

re: "Pearl Harbor Considered"

Victor Davis Hanson at Private Papers looked at the Pearl Harbor attack, on its 70th anniversary.

Money quote(s):

"Why did Japan attack us 70 years ago today, other than the usually cited existential reasons and the fact that they thought they could and get away with it?"

Mostly because they thought they could get away with it.

Herman Wouk, in one of his Winds of War books, had a character (a U.S. naval aviator aboard one of our aircraft carriers, IIRC) explain, pre-Pearl Harbor, that peace (i.e., restraining Japanese aggression) in the Pacific was maintained by three "legs." Those were Russia, Britain, and the U.S.

With Russia and Britain preoccupied fighting Nazi Germany, the peace that had been resting on this three-legged stool was about to fall on its ass.

"(U)ntil August 1945, it was the United States, not Japan, that had a traditional two-front war. We rarely talk of Stalin’s duplicity in this regard: While we were suffering terrible casualties from the Japanese, supplying Russia, conducting bloody campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and over the skies of Europe, and being hectored by the Soviets to open a second front in Europe, the Soviets honored their non-aggression pact with Japan, freeing up hundreds of thousands of veteran troops to be used against us on the islands. I never understood why history books focus on Stalin’s exasperation with our supposedly tardy invasion of Normandy, when he was completely unwilling to open a second front against Japan — until it was utterly wrecked in August 1945 and there were easy pickings to be had in the region."

Remember, that to a Leftists, "There are no enemies on the Left." Therefore, niggling details like the Molotov-Ribbontrop Pact, the artificial famines, the show trials, the gulag, and the Venona Papers, aren't to be mentioned.

"One final thought. The growth of Japan in the 1920s and 1930s and the alarm that it caused in the Pacific, its increasingly illiberality and nationalism, the enormous industrial and military progress that it had made in emulating European economies and Western armed forces, the concurrent impressions that a Depression-era America was a sinking rather than a rising power, and a general sense that the Japanese model was superior to the alternatives offersome general parallels to the current comparative status of China and America in the Pacific. Let us hope that we learn the lessons of Pearl Harbor, namely that anything is possible at any time, that deterrence ultimately keeps the peace, and that deterrence is a combination of known superior military strength and a certainty among concerned parties that such overwhelming power will be used in defense, and thereby will assure the aggressor that its attack will prove suicidal." (Bold typeface added for emphasis. - CAA.)

12/15

re: "Preventing Pearl Harbor"

George Smiley at In From the Cold ("Musings on Life, Love, Politics, Military Affairs, the Media, the Intelligence Community and Just About Anything Else that Captures Our Interest") commemorated America's most famous intelligence failure.

(Remember that operations are always successful; if they're not successful, then there was a failure of intelligence.)

Money quote(s):

"(C)ould the attack have been prevented, sparing the lives of 2,000 Americans who died on that fateful December day in 1941. While war clouds had been gathering for years before the Japanese strike, supporters of FDR claim that neither the President, nor his senior advisers, had any direct knowledge of a pending attack on Pearl Harbor, and could not provide definitive warning to Admiral Husband Kimmel and Lieutenant General Walter Short, the senior Navy and Army commanders in Hawaii.

Still, there is plenty of evidence that U.S. intelligence was aware the Japanese fleet was on the move in late 1941, and might carry out a strike against American possessions in the Pacific."

George details for us a lot of that intelligence.

"Pearl Harbor was clearly at the top of Japan's potential target list, but raids on the Philippines, Alaska, Wake Island and Guam couldn't be ruled out. So, U.S. commanders in the Pacific faced the daunting challenge of locating the Japanese fleet, across millions of miles of open seas."

All of these potential targets were eventually attacked, and at least portions invaded and seized (including part of Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain).

"(T)here is one incontrovertible fact: the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor could have been easily prevented, had President Roosevelt followed the advice of his previous Pacific Fleet commander, Admiral J.O. Richardson. During his tenure as CINCPAC, Richardson repeatedly warned of his fleet's vulnerability at Pearl Harbor, and requested that most of his ships return to their home port in San Diego. When FDR refused, Richardson stuck to his guns and paid a high price: he was fired as CINCPAC in early 1941 and replaced by Admiral Kimmel."

There's a price, sometimes, in being prematurely correct.

Richardson's memoir included this passage, from a message to the chief of naval operations:

"(T)he probable cost (human and physical resources) of any war should be compared [with] the probable value of winning the war."

Clearly Adm. Richardson was a strategic thinker and had read his Clausewitz.

"Sadly, only World War II buffs and naval historians are familiar with the courageous stand of J.O. Richardson. At the cost of his own career, Admiral Richardson stood on principle, trying to avert a military disaster that he believed could be averted, by returning the fleet to San Diego and engaging in the preparations needed to ready the Navy for war.

Richardson's integrity and candor offer an important lesson for military leaders--or anyone in a position to advise decision-makers. Even in that rarefied air, it is essential to tell "the boss" what they need to hear--not what they want to hear. Admirlal Richardson did just that, realizing his advice might fall on deaf ears and result in his dismissal. It's regrettable that so many of his peers failed to follow his shining example in the days before Pearl Harbor."

Tell the truth as you see it, interpret the facts you know as best you can, don't shade or flavor unpalatable truths to fit the preconceived notions or prejudices of your superiors, and let those above you, with access to a presumably wider range of sources and methods, decide on the basis of a fuller scope of information.

12/7

re: "Pearl Harbor and 9-11: Imagination, Deception and Audacity"

Austin Bay at Strategy Page explains how old lessons remain relevant.

Money quote(s):

"Imagination, deception and audacity, in combination, are the deadly acme of warfare. Japan’s Pearl Harbor ambush of America’s Pacific Fleet, which occurred 70 years ago this week, displayed these traits. So did al-Qaida’s 9-11 savaging of American cities.

Despite clues and suggestive bits of intelligence, both attacks caught America by surprise and thrust the nation headlong into ongoing global wars that it either tried to avoid or ignore. In other words, both imaginative and deceptive attacks, executed with audacity, leveraged American self-deception and lack of imagination.

Both attacks spawned critical re-examination of intelligence data and grim reflection on the complex process of intelligence assessment and political decision-making."

Self-deception is a somewhat harsher term, if still accurate, than the more neutral terminology surround the concept of cognitive bias. But it'll all get you there. Lots of very bright folks have studied, and continue to study, the best way to leverage our collection and analysis capabilities into an architecture that keeps us safer. Mostly it works, except when it doesn't.

"Operational and tactical intelligence data, however -- in 1941, 2001 and in 2011 -- arrive in fragments. A useful analogy is a pointillism painting or a Jackson Pollock drip painting. In the process of creation, the painting is random dots or disjointed splashes. Over time, a lucid pattern emerges; the viewer can step away from the canvas; what looked like chaos appears as a coherent design.

In the midst of events, the significance of an intercepted coded Imperial Japanese Navy radio transmission indicating a fleet can be missed, especially if it didn’t fit a logically convincing (though preconceived) pattern. American strategists knew an attack on Pearl Harbor by carrier aircraft was possible, and they believed Japan might well expand its war. Their imaginative insight, however, was incomplete. They underestimated Japanese imagination and audacity.

After Dec. 7, 1941, the U.S. built a defense establishment designed to prevent another Pearl Harbor. America spent trillions of dollars spying on potential perpetrators of a surprise attack, building a security establishment to deter or defeat it, and engineering equipment to fulfill those missions.

Though the U.S. and U.S. allies suffered severe surprise attacks -- for example, Korea in 1950 and Tet (Vietnam) in 1968 -- in terms of protecting military capacities from pre-emptive attack, that effort has been successful."

Col. Bay hits a key point here: what used to be called our "second strike" capability has never, since Pearl Harbor, been successfuly attacked.

It's possible that 9/11 was genuinely intended as a decapitating strike against our economic, political, and military leadership. Which is a fascinating conversation unto itself; still, if it were, it failed. Even in (assumed) failure, 9/11 was plenty damaging enough.

"Al-Qaida declared war on the U.S., but American leaders preferred to treat the threat as criminal rather than military. Violent cults waging long-term cultural and theological struggles with the terms of social and technological modernity aren’t new. Their ability to employ massively destructive power at strategic distances is, however.

Al-Qaida used jumbo jets as ICBMs; all it lacked was a nuclear weapon. U.S. strategists had wargamed suicide aircraft attacks, but the conventional wisdom labeled the plot too Hollywood. Like Pearl Harbor, post-911 attack examination revealed that U.S. intelligence agencies had clues and facts, but failed to assimilate the data into a design -- the design of an audacious enemy."

Usually I've seen this argument phrased in terms of hijacked passenger jets being the poor-man's cruise missile, but Mr. Bay is still quite correct in his larger theme.

"A violent organization that announces it has declared war on America is no mere criminal problem."

And that is the lesson I wish more people would take to heart.

12/5

re: "Japanese Heavy Equipment Company Leaves Iran Over 'Crane Hangings' "

El Cid at Big Peace reported on an intersection of two shame cultures with a guilt culture.

Money quote(s):

"A Japanese heavy machinery manufacturer said it has cut business ties with the Iranian government following a report that its cranes have been used for public executions."

Hard to believe nobody at any of these crane manufacturers ever noticed any pictures of cranes in the media of one of the custumers. After all, who could possibly ever recognize their own product being prominently displayed.

"United Against Nuclear Iran published on its website a list of seven international manufacturers exporting cranes and other heavy equipment to Iran, along with pictures of the cranes being used for public executions.

Crane-hanging has become a common in the Islamic Republic. According to the op-ed, “Amnesty International estimates that as many as 13 people had been hanged in public by the end of April, compared to a total 14 in all of 2010. In a number of instances, those executed have been left hanging high in the air on construction cranes for all to see.”"

Still, whatever the delay, whatever the motivator that stops future imports of foreign cranes, let Iran build its own cranes for this purpose, if it can.

Now, about all that nuclear technology....

S&S - Congressmen look to pressure DOD to act on Japan child abductions

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Congressmen look to pressure DOD to act on Japan child abductions


By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Friday, May 7, 2010


YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — A congressional resolution introduced Tuesday is calling on the secretary of defense to alter the status of forces agreement with Japan to assist servicemembers whose children have been kidnapped and taken to Japan.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The proposed resolution also calls for the United States to enact agreements with Japan to resolve the mounting cases of parental child abduction involving U.S. citizens, who now have few legal options in Japanese courts."

"Kidnapping your own child is not a crime in Japan, and the country’s family law is based on the tradition of sole-custody divorce, leaving noncustodial parents without legal recourse to pursue visitation rights."

&

"The United States and seven other countries are pressuring Japan to sign a treaty that would help resolve the cases by obligating Japan to comply with provisions that protect the rights of both parents.

But even if the country adopts the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction it would not apply to the current cases, a caveat American lawmakers and diplomats aim to shore up with side agreements such as the one proposed Tuesday.

More than 100 American-Japanese children are considered abducted, 2009 State Department records show.

The U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement defines how the U.S. military operates within Japan, including legal consequences for troops who break Japanese laws while stationed here."

JT - Obama may press Japan on child abductions

From my archive of press clippings:

Japan Times

Obama may press Japan on child abductions


Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009


By ERIC JOHNSTON
Staff writer

OSAKA — U.S. President Barack Obama may take up Japan's refusal to sign the 1980 Hague Convention on parental child abductions when he meets Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday, two Americans involved with the issue said.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Parental child abductions generally refer to cases in which an estranged spouse takes children away from their home, or country of residence, and refuses to return them, in many cases defying court orders in the home country."

re: "Bert Bank, R.I.P."

George Smiley at In From the Cold ("Musings on Life, Love, Politics, Military Affairs, the Media, the Intelligence Community and Just About Anything Else that Captures Our Interest") had some important news.

Important quote(s):

"We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Major Bert Bank, U.S. Army (Retired). Bank, a World War II veteran, died last month in his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama at the age of 94."

"(H)e survived the Bataan Death March and nearly three years of hellish captivity in a Japanese POW camp. Many of his comrades weren't as fortunate; thousands perished during the march to the camp, or during their years as "guests" of the Emperor."

"Bank joined the Army ROTC program at the University of Alabama. After graduation and commissioning, he spent a brief stint with a coastal artillery unit before transferring to the Air Corps, with an assignment as a B-17 bombardier at Clark Field in the Phillippines. He arrived in the fall of November 1941, just a few weeks before the Japanese attack.

Mr. Bank's flying career was cut short on December 8, 1941, when Japanese aircraft destroyed most of the B-17s at Clark and other airfields in the Philippines. The few surviving bombers--and trained crew members--were dispersed to other bases and eventually moved to Australia. Other personnel (including Bert Bank) were reassigned to the infantry for the defense of Bataan, the narrow peninsula where General Douglas MacArthur planned to fight a holding action against superior Japanese forces.

Working as a G-2 (intelligence officer), then-Lieutenant Bank was given the task of determining the enemy's location. "But that wasn't hard to figure out," Bank later told Hampton Sides, "The enemy was everywhere."

As the battle raged, the situation on Bataan went from bad to desperate. U.S. and Filipino troops were desperately short of food, ammunition and medical supplies--with no hope of resupply from the United States or Australia. Despite exhortations from Washington to "hang on," General Edward King, the senior commander on Bataan, surrendered his forces on April 9, 1942. It was the largest capitulation in U.S. military history.

Mr. Bank was among those Americans who passed into captivity with General King's surrender. A few days later, he became one of the thousands of sick, emaciated men who were force-marched to prison by their enemy."

"Mr. Bank's eyewitness account of the march and the camps affirms all of the atrocities associated with those events. Walking towards Camp O'Donnell--the former U.S. military post that Japan converted into a POW camp--Bank saw the worst of it. A Lieutenant Colonel he had been holding up slipped from his grasp and fell into the road; instantly, a Japanese solider ran him through with his bayonet. He was later forced at gunpoint to bury several Filipino prisoners who were severely wounded, but still alive.

Conditions in the camp were equally grim. Thousands of prisoners died from beatings, illness, malnutrition or a combination of those factors."

&

"Mr. Bank and his fellow POWs were finally liberated in early 1945 during a daring raid by the U.S. Army's 6th Ranger Battalion. The story of that mission--and the men who carried it out--form the other half of Ghost Soldiers, and it's a compelling read. The Rangers, led by their charismatic leader, Lt Col Henry Mucci, marched 30 miles into Japanese territory, freed more than 500 Allied POWs, and escorted them back to American lines."

Read the whole post here.

JO - Dominica: A Whale of A Pride

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer


Dominica: A Whale of A Pride


Sir Ronald Sanders


Sunday, March 29, 2009


IT'S not often that the leader of a small country is bold enough to resist the desires of larger or richer countries. But Dominica's prime minister, Roosevelt Skerritt, did just that on March 23rd.

Sir Ronald Sanders

Speaking in Dominica's capital, Roseau, at the opening of an Environmental Conference entitled "International Ocean Life Symposium", the prime minister declared that his government would no longer be supporting the whale-killing position of the Japanese government in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). He said that his government would be acting in his country's "national interest".

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"For several years now, it has been alleged that several Caribbean countries - the members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Suriname - have been supporting Japan at the IWC because the Japanese Whaling Association (JWA) provided them with fish refrigeration facilities. It has also been claimed in British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) programmes that the JWA paid the IWC membership fees for some of these countries as well as the cost of their delegations' attendance.

These claims were upheld in Dominica by environmentalists who have followed closely the country's participation in IWC meetings. Among these persons is a former environment minister of a Dominica government, Atherton Martin, who resigned in 2000 in protest over the issue."

_____

Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.


Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com

S&S - Marine tours may change

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes


Marine tours may change

Mideast edition, Saturday, April 11, 2009


Marines serving first tours in Japan who have not served in Iraq or Afghanistan may find their two-year deployment cut short, according to a new Marine Corps policy.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Enlisted Marines scheduled for 24-month assignments on Okinawa or mainland Japan will have their tours re-evaluated after a year and could be transferred six months early, according to the policy, which takes effect May 1."
_____

Stars and Stripes reporters Travis Tritten and Kevin Baron contributed to this report.

S&S - Is Roppongi’s diversity a dangerous mix?

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes


Is Roppongi’s diversity a dangerous mix?

By Teri Weaver and Hana Kusumoto, Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Friday, March 27, 2009

Photos by Teri Weaver/Stars and Stripes
Flower markets stay open late in Roppongi, in part to supply late-night hostess clubs.

Roppongi is a neighborhood in central Tokyo filled with diverse entertainment offerings. During the day, visitors can see world-famous art and eat at top-rated restaurants. At night, workers from dance and strip clubs take over the sidewalks, barking at passers-by in an attempt to lure them inside.

See photo gallery

TOKYO — Visitors to Roppongi can eat in Michelin-rated restaurants, kick the tires of European sports cars and window-shop for couture clothing.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Or, a few doors down, they can buy sex toys, watch women strip around poles, or purchase drinks — and a variety of other services — from hostesses at gentlemen’s clubs into the early morning hours."

"In some instances, the club scene can include drugging and theft, according to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and some military officials in Japan.

On March 13, the embassy released a security notice to its staff and to military personnel in Japan, warning them to avoid certain clubs in the Roppongi neighborhood. Some Americans, the notice said, reported their drinks were spiked and their credit cards were overcharged."

&

"The embassy’s notice shocked some club owners, especially those named as the alleged scenes of the crimes."

SP-I - Seattle father fights for 5-year-old son abducted by mother to Japan

From my archive of press clippings:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle father fights for 5-year-old son abducted by mother to Japan

Last updated March 22, 2009 10:13 p.m. PT


By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

July 5 marked the end of a few great weeks for Carl Hillman.
After a grinding 18 months, Hillman was divorced and on vacation with son Sean. For two weeks, he relaxed with the 5-year-old, who was excited to start at the John Stanford International School's Japanese-English immersion program. The biracial boy had friends on both side of the language divide.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Hillman dropped Sean off that evening at the home of his ex-wife, Mayumi Ogawa, expecting to see him in a few weeks after a trip to his mother's native Japan.

Thirty-six weeks have passed since Hillman last saw his son"

"Ogawa fled the country weeks after a King County Superior Court judge approved an agreed parenting plan stating that Sean would split his time between his parents. Hillman has since been awarded sole control of the child, and King County prosecutors have charged Ogawa with first-degree custodial interference -- essentially accusing her of kidnapping her own child."

"Unlike the United States and 80 other countries, the Japanese government has not ratified the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. The 29-year-old United Nations accord requires that member countries honor custody agreements made outside their borders unless doing so threatens the child involved."

&

"Japanese consular officials did not return requests for comment on Friday because of their homeland's vernal equinox holiday."

_____

Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com.

re: "Not To Compare Bataan To Baghdad, But…"

Robert at Expat Yank ("One American living in the south of England") reminds us about the nature of the enemy. And does so exceedingly well.

Money quote(s):

"(F)or years we have endured bemoanings about “lack of proof,” unfair trials and above all, “torture.” And not just from every released prisoner (Allied forces have evidently “tortured” EVERY captured jihadist) and their lawyers. We’ve also heard it endlessly from many politicians, “activists” and much media.

Ironic all that. For coalition behavior towards this enemy in the War on Terror, 2001-2009, had actually been far better than its behavior in any previous conflict. In fact, it has inarguably been the best treatment ever meted out policywise to captured enemy in all of human history.

Consider this: imagine any enemy held previously engaging in a “hunger strike“? Those held in the past didn’t hunger strike: that’s a “privileged captive’s” jail tactic."

U.S. service members are given some training on how they are expected to conduct themselves if taken prisoner. Unlike our enemy, that indoctrination does not include how to wage lawfare against our captors by making false accusations of mistreatment.

"(A)fter page upon page of Mr Hastings’s having shared numerous examples of Japanese mistreatment (to be polite) of Western and Chinese PoWs and civilians. They ran the horrific gamut from of course starving and working them to death, to beheadings, tying them to trees and bayoneting them, leaving them to drown in the sea, kicking them into latrines and drowning them in excrement, casually pushing them over cliffs, and even subsequently noting how Japanese doctors engaged in the murderous vivisections, without anaesthesia, of eight living (at least, they were at the outset), captured U.S. pilots.

Another source tells us, for example (and no doubt Mr Hastings would not be surprised), of two downed U.S. pilots having been plucked from the sea and “rescued” by Japanese submarine and interrogated — but not harshly. Yet after questioning, their personal effects were parcelled out among the crew and the unfortunate PoWs (men captured in uniform, clearly engaged in military activity against another military) were taken up on deck, (and without even a “military tribunal” finding) weighted down with water-filled gasoline cans, and thrown overboard. And the barbaric list could go depressingly on."

Whole library shelves can attest to the barbaric treatment received by Allied prisoners of Imperial Japan. As it happens, my own family included a Baatan survivor. I grew up listening to his stories, when he would tell them. It's the sort of thing that forever innoculates one from developing an overly-optimistic or romantic view of warfare or defeat.

"(D)id any of that sort of treatment regularly happen at the hands of coalition forces in Iraq or to Guantanamo detainees? For example, was Khalid Sheik Mohammed “waterboarded” (which would have likely been considered a holiday “swim” to many an American or Briton tortured by the Japanese) . . . and then removed to shark-infested waters by U.S. submarine and unceremoniously tossed into the ocean?

During WWII, Western media rightly made much of Japanese atrocities. Yet today Western media has almost nothing to say of the last eight years’ enemy’s."

"(W)hile the Japanese were indisputably brutal in the extreme, even they never reached the all-encompassing depths of depravity and viciousness of the current enemy?"

"(I)nsofar as this blog is aware, not a single coalition serviceman, over the last eight years, has been released alive willingly by the current Islamist enemy.

That bears repeating: not one.

Nor are any now held alive anywhere."

&

"(H)ow such now almost Spartan-obsession to leave no one behind stems from the foreknowledge that every single one captured might just as well be tallied with the rest of the dead?

However one gets there, that means the current Islamist enemy has murdered 100 percent of coalition military personnel (primarily Americans, Britons, and Australians, coincidentally enough) who have fallen into their hands. No enemy has ever engaged in such barbarity in the entire history of warfare. That is to say nothing of the fate of nearly all Western non-combatants who’ve been taken.

Thus the most damning perspective of all is almost universally overlooked. That level of murderous brutality makes Japanese atrocities pale in comparison. And it makes Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and a few hours in a dog pen, look like child’s play.

Do we even want to think that in this conflict the Islamist enemy is even more inhumane that WWII Japanese? One suspects we’d rather not."

S&S - Widow’s residency battle hits little snag

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Widow’s residency battle hits little snag

Officials: Proxy marriage never consummated, therefore it’s not official


By Natasha Lee, Stars and Stripes


Pacific edition, Sunday, January 25, 2009


The Japanese widow of a slain Marine and new mother to the couple’s 2-week-old son faces another speed bump in seeking U.S. residency after the government denied her petition, saying the marriage wasn’t legal, her husband’s family said.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"U.S. immigration officials said since the marriage by proxy between Hotaru Ferschke, 24, and Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr., 22, was never consummated, it was never official, the Marine’s mother, Robin Ferschke, said Friday.

Hotaru Ferschke’s application was denied in November, stalling her plans to raise the child in Tennessee, her mother-in-law said."

&

"Michael Ferschke, a team leader with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, had been in the Middle East about a month when the couple learned in May that Hotaru was pregnant.

The couple were married by proxy July 10 during Michael Ferschke’s deployment in Iraq.

One month later, Michael Ferschke was killed during door-to-door searches in a town north of Baghdad.

The couple’s son, Michael "Mickey" H. Ferschke III, was born Jan. 7 at a Japanese clinic near Kadena Air Base."

"Under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, marriage by proxy must be consummated to be recognized for immigration purposes, said Kevin O’Connor, a consular officer at the U.S. Consulate in Naha.

Approval for such visas and green cards is granted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, he said."

__________

NOTE: See a subsequent article here for a happier update.

S&S - Midwives in the military offer extra level of care

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Midwives in the military offer extra level of care

By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes


Pacific edition, Sunday, January 25, 2009

Teri Weaver / S&S


Lt. Cmdr. Andrea Hiles, the hospital’s other midwife, gives Izumi Flynn her first look at her baby. “Oh my god,” Flynn, a Navy spouse, said. “You think he’s sleeping now?” Flynn asks. “Yes,” Hiles says. “It’s very reassuring. Everything looks perfect, perfect.”

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Late last fall, as Mindy Adorador was just beginning to show during her first pregnancy, she told a midwife at U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka about the slight whispers in her belly.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The military has more than 70 midwives, according to military health officials. These registered nurses do much of the same work as gynecologists and obstetricians — providing prenatal care, performing women’s wellness exams, administering birth control and delivering some of the thousands of babies born in military facilities each year."

S&S - Seven-year-old at Yokosuka is first child to get citizenship under new rule

Stars and Stripes

Seven-year-old at Yokosuka is first child to get citizenship under new rule


By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Monday, March 2, 2009

Erik Slavin / S&S

Martin Ulsano, 7, raises his hand during the oath of citizenship while standing next to his father, Petty Officer 2nd Class Caesar Ulsano, at a ceremony at Yokosuka Naval Base Friday. Ulsano became the first child to receive a certificate of citizenship under a 2008 law designed for family members of overseas servicemembers. In all, 72 Marines, sailors, soldiers and family members celebrated their citizenship Friday.

Erik Slavin / S&S
Martin Ulsano poses with servicemembers and spouses who received their certificates of naturalization. Also in the group is U.S. Embassy Charge d'Affaires James P. Zumwalt.

Erik Slavin / S&S
Martin Ulsano stands with U.S. Embassy Charge d'Affaires James P. Zumwalt, who's about to cut a cake honoring the new citizens.

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The most noticeable of the 72 people with hands raised for the U.S. oath of citizenship Friday stood barely higher than the pews Friday at Yokosuka’s Chapel of Hope.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Martin Miles Ulsano, 7, became the first child to take the oath since the 2008 Defense Authorization Act allowed family members of servicemembers to become citizens overseas, according to officials."

S&S - Gay servicemembers urged to remain silent

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Gay servicemembers urged to remain silent

By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Sunday, June 22, 2008

TOKYO — As the military considers its options in the latest round of court action surrounding its "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy regarding gays, some servicemembers are considering theirs. In her uniform, on an Army base far from home, "Stacy" searched the headlines in late May and wondered if the results of a U.S. appeals court ruling in Washington state meant she could come out as a lesbian.

Read the whole article here.

JO - Former Observer reporter among 18 Jamaicans JETting off to teach English in Japan

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Former Observer reporter among 18 Jamaicans JETting off to teach English in Japan

BY KIMONE THOMPSON
Sunday Observer senior reporter
thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, July 13, 2008

THE Jamaican young people jetting off to Japan to be assistant language teachers this year have ambitious expectations.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"When the 18 new arrivals land on July 27, they will bring the number of Jamaicans currently living in Japan to just over 50.

Jamaica was the first Caribbean country to adopt the Japan Exchange and Teaching programme back in 2000.

Since then, a total of 138 Jamaicans, including this year's group, have participated."

S&S - In Japan, cases of abandoned families can be ‘extreme.’ Nonpayment may put the brakes on servicemembers’ careers.

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

In Japan, cases of abandoned families can be ‘extreme’

Nonpayment may put the brakes on servicemembers’ careers

By Allison Batdorff, Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Sunday, July 13, 2008

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — One sailor abandoned his family at Tokyo’s Narita airport. He collected the boarding passes for his wife and children before the gate and assured them he’d "be right back." Two hours later, they realized he was gone, opting to change duty stations without them.

Read the whole article here.

TMDN - New U.S. visa waiver program begins

The Mainichi Daily News

New U.S. visa waiver program begins


(Mainichi Japan) January 13, 2009


Travelers to the U.S. from the 35 countries in the visa waiver program were required to register their trip in advance from Monday after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's ESTA (Electronic System of Travel Authorization) went into service.

Read the whole article here.