GITMO ADMIRAL SPEAKS, AND I WONDER

By: Teddy
Published On: 8/2/2006 3:38:20 PM

I attended a change of command of a training wing at the Corpus Cristi Naval Air Station on the flat, sandy barrier islands of the Gulf coast of south Texas recently, and Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the Guantanamo Base was one of the speakers.  Admiral Harris is a strikingly fit, short, intense man, and after a brief obligatory joke his opening remark was that, while he was supposed to speak about what he knew, which would be Guantanamo, that was exactly what he would not talk about. (So, if you+óGé¼Gäóre expecting some earthshaking revelations, this essay is not for you). 

PROTECTING CIVILIZATION
He spoke, rather, about his respect and affection for the retiring commander of the training wing, and then he launched into inspiring and hard-bitten praise of the American military, the dangerous function it performs, and the underlying philosophy that animates the +óGé¼+ôtrue heroes,+óGé¼-¥ as Admiral Harris called them: the honorable, professional, duty-bound fighters. In Harris+óGé¼Gäó eyes, the gentle, the vulnerable, the quiet non-violent people who create civilized society can do so only because standing between them and hostile barbarians are those who would do violence to protect them--- the warriors of that society.

When, in ancient Israel, said Harris, God needed to send a man on a dangerous journey to perform a difficult task for the Lord, the Israelites searched everywhere for some one suitable and finally Isaiah stepped forward, and said +óGé¼+ôHere am I.  Send me, O Lord.+óGé¼-¥  That is the American warrior today, +óGé¼+ôHere am I, send me,+óGé¼-¥ whatever the danger, whatever the horror of the task, today+óGé¼Gäós heroes do not hesitate, but willingly place themselves in harm+óGé¼Gäós way to protect the vulnerable at home.

Sitting beside me was a gentleman (I use the term advisedly) who is also a missionary, just returned from Papua New Guinea, where he was raised, by the way. When the Admiral talked about the wall of warriors protecting civilization with violent means, the missionary grunted in approval, bringing to my mind the righteous Christian crusaders of the Middle Ages who had replaced the earlier, pacifist Christians of Roman times.  Coming from a long military background myself, I resonated to the Admiral+óGé¼Gäós remarks.  Certainly, anyone charged with leading a tribe or a nation would require as a tool of leadership the services of a group of fearless soldiers capable of fighting upon command to protect you and yours.  And yet...

WARRIORS TRUE AND PHONY

The warrior caste as described by the Admiral has a strict code of honor and service.  He did not call it a caste, but personally I think many human beings, mostly male, go through an adolescent stage filled with rage and the urge to fight (what I call +óGé¼-¥the young warrior caste+óGé¼-¥), and this is the group most likely to create a cult of violence--- some love John Wayne and some join gangs. Every society must develop a way of dealing with this angry stage of social development; some even enshrine it institutionally.  Truthfully, certain people and some systems never mature past it.

The military tradition so deeply ingrained in various societies, including in our own South, can and does have a fine tradition of honor.  The glamour of that tradition attracts some weaker characters who pretend to partake of that honorable tradition, but unfortunately they get the outward manifestations but not the inner substance.  They learn the formal words but sing off key because it comes not from their heart.  That is, they have a tin ear.

This produces arrogant men who bluster and swagger. They imagine it sounds masculine and strong to say things like +óGé¼+ôThis will not stand+óGé¼-¥ and +óGé¼+ôWhen Iraqis stand up, we will stand down,+óGé¼-¥ (regardless of changing realities, there is a fascination with the firm-sounding word +óGé¼+ôstand+óGé¼-¥);  +óGé¼+ôWe will stay the course,+óGé¼-¥ +óGé¼+ôThe Geneva Conventions are quaint,+óGé¼-¥ and +óGé¼+ôI am doing whatever is necessary to protect America.+óGé¼-¥ Indeed, it is only by assuring us that we should +óGé¼+ôbe afraid, be very afraid,+óGé¼-¥ that they can strut about, masquerading as the noble warrior protecting the vulnerable from untold danger, which danger of course excuses their excesses, giving them license to steal our liberties in the name of security. +óGé¼+ôEverything changed after 9/11" is the gleeful watchword of such false warriors.

A genuine leader does not take a free people to war by telling them to be afraid.

Trouble arises when those possessing such characteristics for uncompromising violence are the ones in charge of making the strategic decisions.  It is even worse when we find a false warrior with a tin ear inserting himself into leadership, and being accepted by a shocked populace, blinded by deliberately fostered fear. How often in history have those charged with protecting insisted that they cannot do their job unless they set the terms, and so they become tyrants? Thus does +óGé¼+ômight makes right.+óGé¼-¥ Thus does a great experiment in freedom and self-government die with a whimper.

Comments



Phony Cowboys (Teddy - 8/2/2006 3:56:27 PM)
Then there's our very own Senator in his cowboy boots (made for walking all over you, the comatose Virginia voter) with his oh-so-macho wad of chawin' terbacky in his mouth. Now, here is another outstanding tin-earred phony who works vary hard at projecting all the appropriate warrior persona traits, but simply doesn't get it. It would seem all he does get is how to join his corporate sponsors in looting the country.


Your diary reminds me of FDR. (Bubby - 8/2/2006 4:13:42 PM)
And his 1933 inaugural address to a nation facing the Great Depression:

This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itselfâ€â€nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

You can read the entire address here (it is one of the most inspiring speeches ever given by an American President):
http://historymatter...



FDR and Churchill (Teddy - 8/2/2006 4:23:16 PM)
I, too, thought of the "all we have to fear is fear itself" speech as I drove back to the airport across the flat land and big sky, past the Valero heavy crude cracking plant and the endless strip malls which line the long, straight highways of Texas (somehow the landscape there makes it easier to understand some of Bush's mannerisms--- and I lived in Texas for a couple of years).

I also thought about Churchill and how he rallied his Britons to fight the expected Nazi invasion after the frightening defeats in France and the perilous evacuation from the beaches. They had a helluva lot more to fear then than we did after 9/11, but Winnie was all defiance and gave a call to fight on the beaches, on the lanes, in the towns and every village. Fear never entered into it.