Author Alan Sabrosky, Ph.D., formerly at U.S. Army War College, holder of the General of the Army Douglas MacArthur Chair of Research, Marine Corps veteran.
'....It is not just that piracy in any form is commonly viewed as a plague. It is that few principles are so embedded in US tradition as that of the freedom of the seas, and with it the inviolability of US citizens....
...Obama himself has been something of a cipher to Israel ... A test of the new president was clearly in order. And this was that test. The US knew The Spirit of Humanity was en route to Gaza and that Americans were aboard. The US also knew that Israeli gunboats were en route to intercept the relief ship, and that the interception would occur in international waters. The US understood that the Israelis would not simply send their gunboats out and then recall them, absent outside pressure. And once those gunboats surrounded and began assailing the relief ship, the only question was whether they would ram and perhaps sink it, or board and capture it and the people aboard, unless the US intervened.
If Obama seriously meant to change the US role in the region and the dynamics of the conflict, this was the time and place to take a stand. A single call to Netanyahu might have caused the Israelis to abort the attack. A single US destroyer or frigate from the 6th Fleet, with orders to enforce international law and protect The Spirit of Humanity in international waters, thereby safeguarding US citizens, absolutely would have done it. An open encounter with a US warship would inevitably have unpleasant consequences for the Israelis, costing them several gunboats and opening a can of political worms they dare not allow the American public to see — and it is a great pity that did not happen.
But it didn’t. Obama kept quiet, as he did during the Gaza onslaught – perhaps he is writing a book called Profiles in Silence? – the US 6th Fleet did nothing, and the world has the joy of yet another successful Israeli act of piracy and breach of international law. Netanyahu and Lieberman must be laughing. Their prisoners, including American citizens abandoned yet again by their government, are not...
..... If any other country did what Israel has done here and in Gaza, Obama would likely treat it as an act of war, or at least do to it what NATO did to Yugoslavia in the 1990s. But not Israel, not now, and certainly not by Israel’s sitting president pro tempore in the White House. Full story
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Alan Sabrosky (Ph.D.) is a writer and consultant specializing in national and international security affairs. In December 1988, he received the Superior Civilian Service Award after more than five years of service at the U.S. Army War College as Director of Studies, Strategic Studies Institute, and holder of the General of the Army Douglas MacArthur Chair of Research. He is listed in WHO'S WHO IN THE EAST (23rd ed.). A Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and a 1986 graduate of the U.S. Army War College, Dr. Sabrosky's teaching and research appointments have included the United States Military Academy, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Middlebury College and Catholic University; while in government service, he held concurrent adjunct professorships at Georgetown University and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Dr. Sabrosky has lectured widely on defense and foreign affairs in the United States and abroad. You can email Dr. Alan Sabrosky at: docbrosk@comcast.net
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