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Military Considers Lifting Ban On Women In Submarines
This from Reuters:
Top Pentagon officials are calling for an end to the U.S. military’s historical ban on allowing women to serve in submarines.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top U.S. military officer, advocated the policy change in written congressional testimony distributed by his office to reporters on Friday.
"I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women. One policy I would like to see changed is the one barring (women’s) service aboard submarines," Mullen said.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said he was "moving out aggressively on this."
"I am very comfortable addressing integrating women into the submarine force," Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, said in a statement.
Women account for about 15 percent of the more than 336,000 members of the U.S. Navy and can serve on its surface ships. But critics have argued that submarines are different, pointing to cramped quarters where some crews share beds in shifts.
The military has proven itself to be a very adaptable organization over the years and I predict this will be no different. As I’ve said many times, no branch of the military should be off-limits to women. That includes frontline combat roles in the Special Forces. Any woman who wishes to become a Navy SEAL and is physically able to complete the training should be given the opportunity to serve.
Video: Chinese Ships Harass U.S. Navy Vessel
Several Chinese ships threatened and harassed a U.S. Navy ship in what U.S. officials are calling an “extremely provocative” and “very dangerous” action on the part of the Chinese.
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U.S. Navy Fires On Iranian Fast Boats — Again
From the AP:
A civilian ship working for the U.S. military fired warning shots at two small boats that approached it in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said Friday.
The Western Venture was in international waters in the central Gulf on Thursday morning when it was approached by two small boats of unknown origin, said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
“Following proper procedures, Western Venture issued standard queries to the small boats via bridge-to-bridge radio but received no response,” said Robertson. “Western Venture then activated a flare but again did not receive a response.”
The small boats continued toward the ship, and the ship’s security team fired warning shots with .50-caliber machine guns and M-16s into the water in front of the boats, causing them to leave the area, said Robertson.
A unit that identified itself as an Iranian Coast Guard vessel radioed the Western Venture a short time after the incident to determine its identity, said Robertson.
“It is not clear if this was one of the small boats or a separate boat,” Robertson said.
Japan Successfully Shoots Down Missile In Space
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force successfully flight tested its first Raytheon built Standard Missile-3. The SM-3 Block IA missile engaged and destroyed a medium-range ballistic missile target more than 60 miles above the Pacific Ocean.
Personnel at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai launched the ballistic missile target while the crew of the Japanese destroyer JS KONGO (DDG-173) fired the intercepting missile.
During the test, the Japanese crew exchanged track information via satellite with U.S. naval assets, demonstrating missile defense interoperability between the two countries. This test was the 12th successful intercept for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system’s SM-3.
Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz: Portrait of a Traitor
In today’s New York Times I was disturbed to read about another left-wing hero/American traitor. Every once in a while the military finds itself with a turncoat within its ranks and that person is usually dealt with swiftly. Unfortunately, the turncoat usually does significant damage before he is discovered.
That was the situation with Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz who was stationed at the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Diaz enlisted in the Army as a 17-year-old high-school dropout. He had earned his college degree while serving as an artillery sergeant and then completed law school. In 10 years as a Navy lawyer, his performance evaluations had been outstanding.
With another promotion all but certain and his 6-month tour at Gitmo nearing its end, Lt. Cmdr. Diaz decided to throw it all away and betray his country.
Sitting at a secure desktop computer, he printed out page after page of classified information. When he was done, Diaz had assembled a document 39 pages long. In tiny type, it listed names, prison serial numbers and other information for each of the 551 men who were then being held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay.
For nearly two weeks after printing the list, he kept it locked inside the safe in his office. He later trimmed the pages down to the size of index cards, and slipped the pages inside a Valentine’s Day card he had purchased at the base store.
Diaz then mailed the classified documents to the New York offices of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a left-wing legal-advocacy group that was among the most zealous opponents of the Bush administration’s Guantanamo policy.
The center was then suing the government on a range of sensitive issues including the Patriot Act, immigrants’ rights, and of course Guantanamo.
To their credit the Center turned the documents over to the Justice Department. A short investigation by the F.B.I. revealed that Diaz had printed the documents from his computer and had left his fingerprints all over them.
This past May, Matthew Diaz became the only United States serviceman to be convicted and imprisoned for an act of insubordination directed at the Bush administration’s detention policies.
On May 18 this year, after a weeklong trial, a panel of seven naval officers convicted Diaz on four of five counts, including one of disclosing secret defense information that “could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation.”
After a few crocodile tears in front of a jury he was only sentenced to 6 months in prison, a dishonorable discharge, and permanent loss of his law license.
The article in the NY Times portrays Diaz as some kind of martyr who wanted to do the right thing no matter what the cost.
When you join the military you follow orders and shut the hell up. You certainly don’t release documents that have been deemed classified because YOU think they shouldn’t have been.
Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz is a disgrace to the uniform he wore and to his country. He is extremely lucky to have only received six months in prison, because 10 years would have been far more appropriate.
We have a big enough problem with liberal activists trying to undermine the war effort from the outside without having those people do damage from the inside as well.
By Chris Jones
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