Today is a sad and historic day for the US Navy and US Coast Guard.
Today a US military ship, Coast Guard Cutter Dallas, turned from its planned course to avoid carrying the US Flag into an international port in Georgia because of the failure of the Bush Administration foreign and military policies.
The Dallas, so significantly named, is the ship that will be known in US military history,like the USS Pueblo of Korean seizure fame and the USS Maine, blown up in Havana Harbor.
For the US this is a historic turning point in the over 200 years of US policy of freedom for US vessels to travel the high seas.
The New York Times reports the story in full, but here is the key part as to the failure of the US under President George Bush and his policy:
The policy has left American and Russian naval vessels maneuvering in close proximity off the western coast of Georgia, with the Americans concentrated near the southern port of Batumi and the Russians around the central port of Poti. It has also left the Kremlin deeply suspicious of American motives.
"What the Americans call humanitarian cargoes — of course, they are bringing in weapons," the Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, told the BBC in an interview on Tuesday, adding: "We’re not trying to prevent it."
The White House dismissed all assertions that the Pentagon is shipping weapons under the "guise" of humanitarian aid, calling them "ridiculous."
Apparently testing Russian assurances that their forces have opened the port of Poti for humanitarian aid, the United States Embassy in Tbilisi said a Coast Guard cutter, the Dallas, would attempt to dock there on Wednesday, well within a zone controlled by the Russian military during the war.
The Dallas, however, docked instead at Batumi, to the south. It was carrying 34 tons of humanitarian aid. Georgian military officials said the other port may have been mined, The A.P. reported.
The history of the US Navy and the history of US diplomacy have each been based on the freedom of the seas and the efforts of admistrations since the founding days of our nation to assure access to international waters. The founding leaders built a deep water navy to assure freedom for US vessels in the Mediterranean. The naval battles with the Barbary Pirates in the early 1800's and the famous battles of the US Marines in 1815 on the "shores of Tripoli" established the combined use of diplomacy and military force to assure that American and its vessels could safely access international waters and international ports.
Ships such as the Mayaquez and Pueblo became household names, to say nothing of the USS Maine as symbols of the right of the US to have its vessels safely ply international waters. Even President Ford understood that policy in his own bumbling way.
It was Russian ships that turned around on the high seas and who took their missiles home rather than to Cuba as the US under President Kennedy used American ships to preserve peace. President Bush abuses the tradition of the the US on the high seas by the incompetence of his administration.
It was the US and the British who flew humanitarian missions into Berlin at the end of WWII in the face of Russian threats. The successful use of the UN by US and British diplomats assured successful delivery of humanitarian aid by the US military in the face of Russian threats. The incompetence of the Bush Administration in its policy of delivery of humanitarian aid today is a disgrace.
What would the Republicans say if there convention were being held now and a Democratic President had a US military vessel turn tail? The cries of "traitor" and "impeach" would be constant. What will the Democrats do?
What will the son and grandson of Admirals and a Navy veteran, John McCain, say? You can bet he will still hug President Bush again as they stand and smile on the stage of the Republican Convention. The father and grandfather of John McCain will be rolling in their graves, humiliated at a McCain in such shameful acts with President Bush.
Will the main stream talking heads ignore this? Probably they will as they know nothing about the history of America and its military, let alone the history of Georgia or even this last episode of Russian action there.
Will the net roots and blog world be so caught up in the joys of the Democratic Convention to ignore this shaming of America? Probably.
Will this humiliation of the Dallas be properly noted as a symbol of the defeat of America as a leader in the world? Probably not by the US press, but it will be noted around the world and in history.
This humiliation is symbolic of the status of the country under the Bush Administration of yet another diplomatic and military failure and one that will be ignored as they have become all too common and we are all too numb.
Now if Paris Hilton had been on the Dallas as part of a USO show, then the MSN would pay attention. It is so sad, but at least some will note this day of shame brought on American by President Bush.
Some one please send him a bowler hat and an umbrella.