Executive Order 9066

     Three months after Pearl Harbor attack, the President of the United States, FDR issued the Executive Order 9066.  Readers of my blogs are familiar with this infamous Executive Order which launched the Nazi-like action by the U.S. government to round up all residents of Japanese descent, legal residents and citizens of the U.S. alike, and ship them off to "internment camps" for the duration of the war.  Our Japanese American citizens of the West Coast and parts of interior, were rounded up like the Jews in Europe, and shipped off under guard to internment camps carrying only few meager possession that they could grab at short notice.  Men, women, and children, without exception were subject to this treatment.  In fact, anyone who was at least 1/8th Japanese was subject to this law!  Today, that would have included people like Ann Curry of NBC who is half Japanese, and Richard Gere, the movie star, who is 1/4 Japanese!  However, many mixed-race people escaped internment because they had none-Japanese last names and did not volunteer the fact that they were part Japanese to the authorities.
     It was a very cruel and senseless act by the U.S. government, born of panic and desire for revenge against the Japanese after the Pearl Harbor attack.  It didn't seem to matter that the people that were so mistreated were Americans, American citizens.  If they were of Japanese descent, they were subject to this law.
     Naturally, not everyone agreed with U.S. government's cruel and senseless act of "interning" all of the Japanese-Americans on the West Coast (as well as Nevada, Arizona, and other western states).  Many none Japanese openly protested and were marked by the government as "trouble makers."  I ran into one such person during my undergraduate days in California.  He was teaching a class that was called "Executive Order 9066."  I was initially surprised to learn that this professor, an Irish-American and not of Japanese descent, was teaching a class on Japanese internment during World War Two.  At the time, in the 1960s, Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies were in their infancy and were just getting started on campuses across California.  On all of the different campuses, the subject of Japanese internment was taught by Japanese-American professors, those who were actually in the internment camps during the war.  So, the fact that a none-Japanese was teaching this class on our campus sort of caught me by surprise at first.  Then, I read a long interview that he had with the local newspaper, in which the paper was trying to promote his class and at the same time tell his fascinating story.
     It turned out that he was one of those none-Japanese who protested the enactment of the Executive Order 9066.  At the time he was a graduate student.  He had actually just completed all of his class work for a Ph.D. and only needed to write the dissertation to receive his doctoral degree.  However, because of the war, he decided to take a break and thereby became an ABD (an unofficial title used in academia for those who are "all but the dissertation" short of receiving their doctorate).  As an ABD, he was no longer enrolled in school and was subject to the draft, which he didn't mind.  He was a patriot and was willing to serve his country.
     During his protest against the government policy, the Executive Order 9066, he not only demonstrated in the streets with placards, but wrote letters to FDR with copies sent to the Army and FBI.  For his street protests, he was arrested by the police, roughed-up, and spent a night in jail along with several fellow protesters.  He wasn't very popular with his neighbors, but that was about it.  On campus there were many like-minded individuals, both students and faculty members who participated in the protests.
     Shortly after his decision to take a break from school, he was called up for the draft.  Being in excellent physical condition, he didn't foresee any problems, and he wanted to serve in combat.  He was afraid that because of his education, he might end up behind a desk someplace doing some boring clerical work, so he asked to be assigned to the infantry and to a combat unit.  The army went along with his request partially and he did receive infantry training, but instead of being assigned to some combat unit, he was assigned to be a guard at Tule Lake Internment Center in Northern California!  He said that the sergeant who handed him his orders had a nasty smile on his face as he said, "You love the Japs so much, the Army thought it would be good to send you to guard them!"
     He was stunned!  Obviously the system was paying him back for his protests and letter writing!  Who ever said that bureaucracy does not have a memory and is not vindictive!  It seemed to have a very good memory, and was very vengeful!  So, off he went to Tule Lake to be a guard.  He was horrified at what he saw.  The Japanese-Americans were kept behind a barbwire fence with armed soldiers guarding them.  Their "housing" was a row of barracks-like clapboard structures with tin roofs with no insulation, which made those building freezing cold in the winter and unbearably hot in the summer.  There was no plumbing, there were trench like common latrines, such as the ones used by soldiers in the field!  It was horrible!  He said that he later imagined that it wasn't much better than the housing the Jews received from the Nazis in those Extermination Camps!
     He performed his duties as a guard, but he also did everything and anything he could within his power to make life easier for the internees.  He complained to his superiors that the conditions were terrible and that something should be done to improve the situation.  He was strongly reprimanded and told that he would never be promoted and that if he didn't watch out, he would end up in prison.  Since he performed his duties as he was directed, they didn't send him to prison, but true to their word, he was never promoted. After three years in the Army, from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945, he spent his entire time at Tule Lake as a Private, not even a one striper (a Private First Class), but just a Private with no stripe!
     Although there were some soldiers that were sympathetic to the internees, most were afraid to say anything and avoided making friends with him.  He spent a very lonely and miserable three year period at Tule Lake.  However, as they say, there is always a silver lining, even under a dark cloud.  He met a Nisei girl who was interned with her family.  At first the girl refused to even speak to him, but eventually she warmed up and they became friends.  He would go to town in his off days and buy products that were unavailable for the internees and smuggle them into the camp.  He took a big risk doing this, but he did it anyway.
     In time, he fell in love with the Nisei girl.  But of course, they couldn't date or anything, just talk across the barbwire fence most of the time!  Sometimes, when he was not on duty, they would secretly meet at some deserted corner of the camp and have some privacy.  But those occasions were very rare and few.
     A few months after the war ended, the internees were released and sent back to where they came from.  Most returned to homes that were no longer theirs, their property was either confiscated by the government or commandeered!  He was discharged from the army and he returned to school to finish his Ph.D.  He had lost contact with the Nisei girl although he looked for her desperately.  Several years later, by pure coincidence he ran into her in another town where she was teaching.  She had been teaching at the Tule Lake Internment Center school during the war.  She was a college graduate with teaching degree.  So, naturally she resumed teaching after the war.  They resumed their relationship and were married shortly.  Their story, changed considerably to suit the needs of "dramatization" and "artistic license," was made into a movie called Come See the Paradise in 1990 with Dennis Quaid and Tamlyn Tomita.  I don't know why Hollywood always insists on changing the original stories, sometimes to the point where they are unrecognizable.  In this case, neither Dennis Quaid nor Tomlyn Tomita are anything at all like the old professor and his wife.  A pity, because their story would have made a great movie on its own right!  But then again, perhaps they didn't want their story commercialized into a movie.    
     He was an exceptionally brave and principled individual.  I don't think many people could have done what he did, I doubt if I could have!  I am glad that I met him and had the opportunity to talk to him, and take his class!

The Unsung Heros of MIS

     On the eve of Pearl Harbor, in November of 1941, the U.S. Army created a unit called Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and started a language training program in Japanese as well as German.  However, there were sufficient German speakers in the U.S. military so the need was not that great and German classes were small. It was different when it came to Japanese.  The U.S. government knew that war with Japan was imminent, they just didn't know exactly when it was going to start.  So preparations were being made. Contrary to the common perception that America was totally surprised and unprepared, Washington was aware that war with Japan was going to take place and had been preparing.  The problem was that there was a great shortage of Japanese linguists in the U.S. military.  For that matter, there just weren't that many Japanese speakers, period.  The German-American population was much greater in America than Japanese-American.  There were several states and cities that had dominant German population, but except for Hawaii, Japanese population was very sparse and pretty much scattered throughout the West Coast.  So, in time, the MIS language training program became almost strictly Japanese and MIS was made up of Japanese speakers.
     The MIS started a language school (MISLS) with a meager funding of $2000!  The first classes were held in an empty warehouse in San Francisco and students had to sit on orange crates!  The initial class consisted of 60 G.I.s, all but two were Nisei (second generation Japanese-Americans), and quite a few in the bunch were Kibei, Nisei who were sent back to Japan to be educated.  So, all students spoke Japanese.  What they were trying to teach them was the complicated military jargon and vocabulary, which none, not even those that were educated in Japan, were familiar with or could truly understand.  The two none Japanese were, a son of missionaries who grew up in Japan and was fluent in the language, and another who was a Japan scholar and had a graduate degree in Japanese.  All of them struggled with the complicated military vocabulary and usage and at the end of the 6 month program, 48 graduated out of 60.
     By the time the first batch graduated, the war was on and additional linguists were desperately needed.  However, there was a problem.  The Japanese-Americans were all gathered up and interned in camps under the Executive Order 9066.  Japanese-Americans were not trusted and, naturally, not accepted into the military service.  Those who went through the first class had already been in the service prior to Pearl Harbor.  Ultimately, volunteers were sought from internment camps and the language school began to operate full strength.  The contribution made by the members of MIS was incalculable!  They were the only ones in the U.S. military who could interpret, translate, eves-drop, and read important documents in Japanese.  At the end of the war, there were about 6000 Japanese-Americans who were veterans of the MIS.
     Besides working in office environments as linguists, the MIS members volunteered and served as combat interpreters/translators and radio monitors in the field!  They were members of the U.S. Army, but served in all branches of the service.  For instance, although the Marines had designated linguists in their combat units, those none Japanese-American Marines just did not have the fluency level and ability of the Nisei members of MIS.  Anyone who has been through language training knows that 6 months training is hardly enough to make one fluent in a "hard" language such as Japanese.  The military language programs were 6 months in length.  Today, the State Department spends 2 years training its officers in Japanese.  Even after that period, very few if any reach native fluency level.  So, MIS members were assigned to the 1st Marine Division as well as others that saw combat in the Pacific.  MIS members were also assigned to the OSS and served in such places as China and Burma.  A number of the MIS Nisei soldiers served with OSS's famous Detachment 101 and the Kachin Rangers!  Another contingent was assigned to the famous Merrill's Marauders in Burma.
     There are some hair raising accounts of the exploits of MIS members with the Merrill's Marauders.  The Japanese didn't trust wireless communication so they used telephone lines.  The Nisei soldiers of MIS would volunteer to crawl up to the Japanese lines at night and tap into their telephone lines!  The Japanese never did figure out why Merrill's Marauders always seemed to be a step ahead of them!  General Frank Merrill, the CO of that unit later said that the Marauders could not have been as successful without the contribution of the Nisei soldier of the MIS.  Yet, in all the press coverage and numerous books written about the Marauders, and even a popular movie made in the 1960s, there is hardly ever any mention of MIS and the Nisei soldiers.
     Another elite unit that operated in the Pacific, the Alamo Scouts, often referred to (together with the OSS) as the grandfather of the modern day Army Special Forces, had Nisei MIS soldiers.  The Alamo Scouts even had on its recon teams Marines and Navy personnel, although it was an Army unit and was predominantly staffed with army personnel.  All branches of the service received credit for their outstanding work, yet, the contribution of MIS and the Nisei soldiers is hardly ever mentioned.  Incidentally, the Alamo Scouts infiltrated behind Japanese lines and gathered intelligence and conducted prisoner snatches, the very same kind of work later done by SOG in Vietnam.  They did not suffer a single death casualty during the entire war with over hundreds, perhaps thousands of operations!  Quite a record and accomplishment!
     It wasn't until 2010 that the accomplishments and service of the Nisei soldiers of MIS to our nation was recognized and  some 6000 former members were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.  Not all were alive to receive the award, quite a few medals were presented to surviving relatives!  A pity, because after the war the veterans of MIS continually lobbied to be recognized.  They fought to receive the Combat Infantryman's Badge (CIB) and campaign ribbons.  The CIB was awarded to all Merrill's Marauders, but not the MIS soldiers.  The CIB was also awarded to all Alamo Scouts and OSS's Detachment 101 members, but once again, the MIS soldiers were left out.  Some did finally receive the CIB after years of lobbying.
     The story of the Nisei soldiers of MIS is a very little known and recognized story.  Whenever  Nisei soldiers of World War Two are mentioned, most immediately think of the 442nd RCT and the 100th Battalion  that fought so gallantly and heroically in Europe. But one hardly ever hears about the Japanese-American soldiers of MIS in the Pacific!  Part of the problem was/is the cumbersome, sometimes mind boggling bureaucracy that exists in the U.S. Army.  But unfortunately, some of the blame has to be placed on just plain old racial discrimination, especially against those of Japanese ancestry during World War Two. Despite their outstanding record of performance, the 442nd was never deployed in the Pacific, that is because the army was afraid the Japanese-American soldiers would balk at fighting Japanese!  The incredible heroics of the Nisei soldiers of MIS in the Pacific completely dispelled that theory!

Asian-Americans in the U.S. Military

     I think most people will be surprised to learn that Asians have had a long history of serving in the U.S. military.  It didn't begin with the Revolutionary War, but it did start shortly after, during the War of 1812.  The first officially recorded Asian in the U.S. military was a Filipino by the name of August Feliciano.  There was another Filipino that Andrew Jackson himself referred to in the Battle of New Orleans as the "Manilaman," but he was never identified by name.  Obviously, record keeping was not the strong point of the U.S. Army in those days.
     The next time that you hear of Asians in the U.S. military is during the American Civil War.  In 1861, a Chinese by the name of John Tomney (more than likely it was Anglicized from Tom Ni or something similar) enlisted in the New York Infantry Regiment and eventually died in the Battle of Gettysburg.  Army's record keeping was much better by this time!  Another Chinese by the name of John Pierce (he was adopted by an American Sea Captain by the name of Pierce) enlisted in the 14th Connecticut Infantry in 1862.  Still another Chinese, William Ah Hang served in 1863.  In total, there were more than 50 known Asians serving in the Union Army.  Interestingly, although they were not identified by name, there were apparently a few Filipinos serving in the Confederate Navy!  In 1860, Matsumura Junzo became the first Asian graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.  However, he went back to Japan upon graduation and served in the Japanese Imperial Navy.  Note that I refer to all of these who served in the U.S. Army and Navy as Asians, not Asian-Americans.  That is because our laws at the time did not permit the granting of citizenship to Asians!
     In 1909, Albert Lyman, a Chinese-Hawaiian, graduated from West point.  Lyman went on to become a Brigadier General, first Asian-American to reach that rank.  In 1914, Vincent Lim became the first Asian to graduate from West Point. Although Lyman was Chinese-Hawaiian, he was not considered an Asian-American at the time, however, Lim was considered an Asian.
     In 1911 in Philippines, during the "Philippine Insurrection," Private Jose Nispero of the Philippine Scouts (a U.S. Army unit composed of Filipino volunteers) was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism.  In 1915, Fireman 2nd Class Telesforo Trinidad was awarded the Medal of Honor.  Filipinos at this time were considered U.S. nationals, but not citizens.  There are also numerous anecdotal accounts of Japanese serving with the U.S. Navy during the Spanish-American War, both in Cuba and in Philippines, but no accurate records.
     There were a number of Asians, particularly of Chinese descent who served during World War One.  Several served in the now famous "Lost Battalion" in France, others served in various units.  There were also, by this time, quite a few Filipinos in the U.S. Navy.  At the time, Filipinos were not restricted to serving only as stewards, that restriction came about later.
     1934 saw Gordon Chung Hoon, the first Asian-American of Korean descent (U.S. citizen) to graduate from the Naval Academy.   Hoon went on to become a Rear Admiral.   In 1940, just before we entered World War Two, Win Fook Jung, the first Asian-American of Chinese descent graduated from West Point.
     I think just about everyone is aware of the heroics and the superb service rendered by the 442nd Infantry Regiment out of Hawaii, becoming the most highly decorated U.S. military unit of its size in history.  The 442nd was primarily made up of Nisei (second generation Japanese-Americans) from Hawaii as well as those who volunteered out of internment camps on the mainland.  There were, however, Korean-Americans in the unit as well, especially those who came out of internment camps.  Koreans prior to World War Two were considered Japanese nationals, since Korea was a Japanese colony.  The same can be said of Taiwan.  So any Korean or Chinese from Taiwan was subject to internment under the law!
     Another little known fact is that the first air ace of World War Two was Arthur Chin, a Chinese-American with 8 aerial combat victories and a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross (Later this award was renamed for flyers to Distinguished Flying Cross).  Chin was the very first U.S. ace of World War Two, although his accomplishment was never advertised and his name is rarely if ever mentioned in discussion of America's Flying Aces.
     By the end of World War Two, several Asian-Americans had reached the rank of flag officers, i.e., generals in the army and admirals in the navy.  So, despite the rather small number (in contrast to other minority groups), Asians have fared well in the U.S. military despite earlier prejudices and restrictions imposed on them.  Currently there are a number of Asian-American Generals and Admirals serving on active duty.
     Today, in the military academies at West Point, Annapolis, and Colorado Springs, Asian-Americans usually make up about 10% of the cadet student body.  That is a very high number considering the Asian-American population over all!  Of the minority population in America, Hispanics make up the largest group with about 17% of the total population.  African-Americans make up about 14%, and Asians make up less than 6%!  So, to have 10% of the student body in the military academies is a disproportionately large number.

Our War Against "Extremists"

     Sometimes political correctness can take things to the point of ridiculousness. Take for example the latest attempt by our leadership in Washington to tip-toe around the issue of Islamic Extremism by declaring that we are at war with "extremists," and not Islamic Extremists!  Are we so afraid to anger Muslims that we can't mention Islam?  What are all those violent, "extremists" that are so set on destroying us and anyone else connected with non-Islamic faith?  The various groups, be it ISIS, Al Qaeda, Abbu Sayyef, or any one of those "extremists" groups, all proclaim to murder and do what they do in the name of Islam.  They may be twisted, incorrect in their interpretation of the Islamic faith, but they are never the less (at least in their minds) followers of Islamic faith.  So,  let's stop this nonsense of soft shoeing around and call them what they are, Islamic Terrorists or Islamic Extremists!
     Europe has for a long time bent over backwards to be PC and cater to their new Muslim immigrant population and constantly accused us of being too strict in our laws and handling of our problems along the southern border. France, which has a total population of a little over 66 million, has around 2.5 million Muslims.  The port city of Marseille with a population of a bit over 850,000 is 40% Muslim.  It is also described as the most dangerous city in France!  The small and very liberal country of Denmark has a total population of 5.6 million, less than the population of the State of Arizona!  Denmark's  270,000 plus or so Muslim population is about 5% of nation's total!  Guess where the latest problems with "extremists" occurred in Europe?  So now, after years of PC approach to problems with their Muslim population, they are paying for it!  They are also beginning to react more harshly, in a way that they used to accuse us of doing!
     Our Muslim population is about the same as that of France, 2.5 million, although I have read claims by some that the figure reaches into 10 million!  Our total population is 319 million, so the Muslim presence is not as great as it is in Europe.  However, we do have some areas, some cities that have a much larger concentration of Muslims.  New York has about 70,000 Muslims, followed by Dearborn, Michigan at 30,000 and Los Angeles at 25,000.  However, Dearborn's total population is 95,000, so the Muslim population in that city makes up 1/3 of the  total! 
     America's first exposure to Islam in large numbers came about when slaves from West Africa were brought to these shores.  Many of the slaves were of Islamic faith.  However, Islam was discouraged by the slave owners and most of the slaves converted to Christianity.  Islam survived in very small numbers until much later the Black Muslim movement increased the numbers.  So, Islam is not something that is new to this country.
     The world's most populous Islamic country is not in the Middle East but in Southeast Asia, it is Indonesia with its 1.57 billion souls who practice Islam.  Malaysia, being a neighbor of Indonesia, also has a significant Islamic population of about 30 million.  Philippines which most think as a Christian nation has a large Islamic population of around 5 million that feels oppressed and has spawned some "extremists" such as Abbu Sayyaf.  Such a large population of Muslims in that part of the world makes me feel nervous.  However, whether it is cultural or (some even claim it has to do with climate!) otherwise, Muslims in Asia appear to be much more moderate and not quite so given to violent activity as in the Middle East, although there are groups such as Abbu Sayyaf.  Thankfully, there has not been any sign of ISIS in that part of the world yet.  Abbu Sayyaf is violent enough, but it does not partake in such barbaric acts as beheading of its prisoners as ISIS, although latest intelligence indicate that there might be a link between Abbu Sayyaf and ISIS!
     Unfortunately, I believe we are in for a long, long fight against Islamic Extremism.  Washington's earlier announcement that our military will be further reduced, to below post World War Two level, was not only untimely but foolish.  It is about as stupid as the most recent announcement that we will be launching a counter offensive against ISIS in April with increased Iraqi forces and Kurds from the north.  We even identified the number of Iraqi brigades that will be used.  I wonder if it is all tied-in with the idea of "transparancy" and Washington feels we need to give fair warning to our enemy!  Think about it!  It would be the same if we announced in April of 1944 that the D-Day Invasion would take place on June 6!  It must be a new military strategy that we are employing in concert with our use of the term "extremists" rather than Islamic Extremists.  If this is a "strategy" that has been lacking so far, then it is indeed a very strange one that I fail to understand. 
    

America's Fifth Column - 3

     I won't even pretend to know all of the answers to the problem of "undocumented immigrants."  But I do know this much, we have to stem the flow of the illegal border crossers before we attempt to do anything with those that are already here.  It seems Washington is going about it backwards, trying to come up with some solutions for those that are here and ignoring the constant flow of illegal crossers.  If we  provide relief for the illegals already here, all we will be doing is encouraging more to come to take advantage of the new "opportunity."  We have to stop the constant flow of illegal alien traffic!  Oh sure, periodically it slows down, isn't as bad as it was before, but it never stops!  You can't have such a porous border and hope to solve the problem with those that are already here!
     Mexico, a country that provides the bulk of the illegal residents here and is critical of our "strict" immigration laws, does not practice what it preaches.  Mexico has had a problem of the flow of illegal entrants into its country for quite some time now.  These are people who are desperate to escape their situation in Central and South America, especially those from countries such as Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador.  Mexico has militarized their border with Guatemala.  There are several large Mexican Army units posted along the border and their sole purpose is to guard the border, to stop the flow of illegal entrants.  Mexico's border with Guatemala is less than a quarter the size of our southern border, yet they have twice as many soldiers on their border with Guatemala as we have Border Patrol personnel on ours with Mexico.
     If we want to solve the problem of illegal aliens in our country, we must first stop the flow!  To do that we must complete the building of the border fence.  The liberal members of our society will scream in protest again, claiming that we are creating a fascist society.  Despite their protests, to stop the illegal flow, we have to complete the fence and not leave huge open stretches that exist today.  We must also increase our manpower and electronic surveillance equipment along the border.  Border Patrol should be at least doubled!  Once we stop the bleeding, or at least slow it down significantly, then we can proceed with solving the problem with those that are already here, not the other way around, which is what we are doing now!
     Assuming that we manage to stop or slow the traffic significantly, one solution, and it is just one small solution of many that we can employ, is to revive the old Lodge Act.  I mentioned the Lodge Act in my very early blogs on Special Forces, but it bears repeating.  In 1950, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge sponsored a bill, the Lodge Act, which was created to help fill the ranks in the U.S. Army with much needed speakers of Eastern European languages, languages of the countries that were behind the Iron Curtain.  Our military was sorely in need of Eastern European language speakers.  If a war broke out with the Soviet Bloc, we would have been in serious trouble, lacking sufficient personnel who could speak the languages.  The Lodge Act authorized the U.S. Army to recruit personnel from Eastern European countries (refugees), and if they passed the grueling vetting processes, to allow them to enlist for a 5 year enlistment.  At the end of the 5 years of honorable service, they could apply and become U.S. citizens.
     There was much disagreement among those in our government.  Many felt that we would be "destroying" the U.S. Army by creating a "foreign legion."  Others said that we did not need to copy the French and their Foreign Legion.  So, although the Lodge Act became law, the army was very reluctant to use it.  A pity!  The Lodge Act authorized the army to recruit up to 12,500 Eastern Europeans, but that figure was never reached.  It was never meant to create a separate unit like the French Foreign Legion.  Those who were recruited under the Lodge Act would be integrated into the regular units. Still the army as a whole was very reluctant to recruit foreigners.
     The few that were recruited by the army were misused, put in jobs that did not require their linguistic ability or knowledge of Easter Europe.  So the Lodge Act almost died before it got started. Then in 1952 the Special Forces was created and the Special Forces made good use of the Lodge Act.  Although the numbers were not huge, still, Special Forces took advantage of the Lodge Act and recruited Eastern European candidates specifically to fill jobs with the 10th Special Forces Group whose responsibility was Europe (it still is!).  The Lodge Act expired in 1959, but not before Special Forces was able to recruit some significant numbers, including veterans of the French Indochina War from among ex-Foreign Legion members.  I was fortunate enough to have met some of those old Lodge Act Special Forces members.  They were a fascinating lot, most of them multi-lingual and superb soldiers.
     Contrary to fears of some who were against the Lodge Act, there was not one single case of a Lodge Act soldier who was a communist agent or turned bad, so to speak.  All of them made decent soldiers, some were superb and went on to outstanding military careers.
     If we created a similar opportunity for not just Hispanic aliens, but those of any nationality, we would not only increase a pool of linguists in our military, but increase the number of young men and women volunteering for military service!  Right now, military recruiters are having a tough time filling quotas.  Additionally, enlistment for a 5 year period will give more time to the military to train and use the services of the enlistee, an additional year at least.  This would also provide an outlet for the illegals in the country, at least for those who qualify!  This process should be open to all branches of service, not just the army as was the Lodge Act.
     The military has always had a shortage of linguists.  To fill the need, all branches of the service go through great expense sending their members to the Defense Language Institute and even to the Foreign Service Institute for language training.  The presence of native speakers in various languages would greatly relieve that situation.  Ours is a multicultural society, we pride ourselves of that fact.  We are probably the most multicultural society of all countries, yet, our military is sorely lacking in linguists in many areas.  I believe the system of allowing aliens to enlist in our military will greatly improve the situation by not only filling much needed positions for linguists but simply providing more personnel, some with professional or technical acquired skills.  It is a win-win situation, in my opinion, and it will also provide relief for some of the illegal aliens in our country.

America's Fifth Column - 2

     My experience of what I witnessed that night in Otay Mesa, California in 1983, made quite an impression on me.  I can still remember it vividly more than 30 years later!  I became much more aware, and paid more attention to the existence of the "undocumented immigrants" in America.
     About a month later I arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador to live and work for the next several years.  Having seen what was happening on the California border, I was not surprised to learn that just about all of the illegal Ecuadorian entrants into the U.S. went by way of California, specifically through Tijuana, Mexico.  Anyone with means and a plane ticket would have a visa, so they would enter the U.S. legally, although they may decide to stay on the tourist or student visa with which they entered, and thereby become illegal.  However, vast majority of illegal entrants came by way of Mexico.  These are the ones that could not qualify for a visa so chose to cross the border illegally.
     I was astounded to learn how many Ecuadorians tried each year to enter the U.S. illegally.  Since INS did not keep an accurate figure on other Latin American nationalities, it was hard to tell.  INS classified all none Mexicans as OTMs or Other Than Mexican!  But in Ecuador I learned that at least a couple thousand Ecuadorians each year tried to make it into the U.S!  Ecuador is a small country, and if that many of its citizens were trying to get into the U.S. illegally, think how many Latin Americans over all were trying to get in!  I learned that there was an active pipeline to the U.S. from Ecuador and a thriving community of illegal residents in New York/New Jersey area.  I befriended a rancher who in his younger days made his way into the U.S. illegally by way of Tijuana, and lived and worked in New Jersey for 7 years!  I mentioned it in a story in my book Snap Shots in the chapter called "My Ecuadorian Friends."
     I left Ecuador at the end of my assignment there and arrived in Paraguay for my next tour of duty.  Paraguay's population is even smaller than Ecuador's, yet, there was a thriving illegal pipeline to the U.S., also through Mexico!  Back in the day, if you were a citizen of one Latin American (South or Central American) country, you could travel about freely without a passport, all you needed was your National ID, the cedula, which all Latin Americans had in their possession and all the countries honored.  That law was undoubtedly changed with all of the problems that Mexico has had with illegal Central Americans, but back then you could go all over South and Central America just with your cedula.  So, most of the aspiring illegal entrants into the U.S. simply had to find their way to Mexico, as close as possible to the U.S. border and hire a guide (coyote) to lead them across into the "promise land"!
     During this period, from early 1980s through 1990s, we would return to the U.S. every two years for an extended "home leave," and every year or so for R&R for a shorter period.  Each time we noted that there was an increase in Hispanic population in Washington DC area!  In 1979, along with some of my fellow Californian colleagues, we tried to locate a Mexican restaurant in Washington DC.  After scouring the phone book, we found exactly one Mexican restaurant, although there were a few Cuban joints!  By the 1990s, you could get a decent taco just about anywhere in DC area!
     In 1997 I was assigned to Tijuana, Mexico.  Contrary to what most Americans think, Tijuana is not just a sleezy border town with bars and clip joints and shops that sell tacky velvet paintings of naked women.  Once you get past the tourist area around the Avenida de Revolucion, you are in real Mexico.  But, just as in the rest of Mexico, there are the two extremes, the rich and the poor.  The area around Chapultapec district has houses that will rival anything that San Diego's more affluent neighborhoods can offer.  In fact, some of the houses there are way over the top with armed guards!  Yet, not too far from that exclusive area you will find stretches of ramshackle houses and actual cardboard structures such as used by homeless here in the U.S.  These are the "poor" areas, where the residents came from the countryside, looking for a better living and found themselves in a worse situation, living in hovels and barely surviving with minimal income, if any!
     The vast majority of the residents that live in the "poor" neighborhoods came to Tijuana initially to find their way across the border.  Some never could come up with enough money to pay the coyote to guide them across, others tried and failed, were apprehended by INS or Border Patrol and deported.  A part of Tijuana is a transient town, a place where people come to live until they can find their way to the U.S.!  For instance, I was surprised to discover how many of the blue collar employees, the janitorial and handyman crew employed by the U.S. government where I worked, had at one time or another crossed into the U.S. but were either deported or left on their own! 
     The Mexicans in Tijuana are quite casual about the whole thing and refer the U.S. side simply as "el otro lado" or "the other side," nothing more.  The appearance of the maquiladoras in the 1990s, the various assembly plants and factories, helped the economy in the area tremendously.  It provided jobs where no jobs existed before.  These maquiladoras were mainly Korean and Japanese electronic firms like Samsung of Korea and Sony of Japan, two of the largest employers in the area.  Many who were stuck with no jobs and were unable to get across the border, now had an option to work for a maquiladora, and comparatively speaking, make a decent wage.  However, it didn't take long for all the jobs to fill up and once again there was a backlog of unemployed, looking for jobs or trying to cross the border.  But the people keep coming to Tijuana, not just Mexicans from the interior of the country but Central and South Americans.
     It doesn't take a genius to figure out that until such time as these countries in the south can provide jobs and better living conditions for their citizens, there will continue to be a literal onslaught of people trying to get across the border in to the U.S.  However, most of the countries, beginning with Mexico, are so fraught with corruption and graft that it will be a long, long time before things will improve and there will be less interest in coming to the U.S.  America is the "promise land" to all of these people.  Much of the economy in these countries, countries that provide all of these "undocumented immigrants," get a boost from the money sent back by their citizens living and working in America.  There are instances of whole villages that have undergone rebuilding, reconstruction, with the help of the money sent back from the U.S.  I know of two specific villages, one in Ecuador and one in Paraguay that underwent "urban renewal" with funds from U.S.!  Mexico is dependent on the money that is being sent back from the U.S., so it is unfortunately, in their best interest to allow its citizenry to continue to go to the U.S.  After all, we are providing the jobs and paying the money that they should be doing, so, is it surprising that they are very lax about controlling their population in its migration north?
     Until the situations for jobs and living conditions improve south of the border, the traffic in "undocumented immigrants" will continue.  It will surge or ebb, according to political situations back home or our attempted control of the border, but it will continue.  Our almost total lack of control of the border is disgraceful.  Not only is the human traffic flowing freely, but drugs are landing on our side of the border in incredible amounts, and we can't seem to control any of it.  Being PC has caught up with us.  If we are too strict in controlling our border, building more fences, then we are accused of being like "Nazis" and practicing racial discrimination, etc.  At the same time, the uncontrolled state of our border is called "disgraceful," which it is, and demands are made to do something.  Yet, Washington just sits on the whole issue.  There is some interesting verbiage emitting from our leadership and proposals are made for some unworkable, unrealistic solutions.  But nothing has really been done or seems to be on the horizon!  America's Fifth Column is alive and well and continues to grow.

America's Fifth Column

     The name "Fifth Column" is usually given a sinister meaning, a saboteur, a secret enemy agent, etc.  It was coined during the Spanish Civil War and was made in reference to military formations.  A Spanish Nationalist General referred to his four columns of troops approaching a city and said that within the city there were Nationalists, therefore, a fifth column.  It didn't necessarily mean that those within the city were going to assist the troops with fighting, only that they were sympathizers to their cause.  Through the years the meaning has been used more or less to give a sinister connotation especially when used by news media.  However, it does not have to be necessarily evil or sinister, it can simply be used to denote a "fifth element" nothing more.  For this blog, that is how I am using the name "Fifth Column."
     It wasn't until the mid 1980s that the presence of illegal aliens, or to use the PC term, "undocumented immigrants," became visible east of Mississippi.  Prior to that, "undocumented immigrants" were only common place in border states such as California, Arizona, and Texas.  In the rest of the west, along the coast and inland in agricultural areas "undocumented immigrants" would be found especially during harvest.  There was a long standing Agricultural Workers Permit issued to migrant workers so it was hard to tell who was legal and who was not.  Others simply disappeared in large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles and melted into existing ethnic populations.
     Having lived in California through the 1970s, I was quite aware of the presence of "undocumented immigrants," both in the agricultural areas of the great Central Valley (Sacramento Valley) and urban areas such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc.  It was not unusual at all to run across an individual who was working in some job without any documentation!  So, I was very much aware that our border in the south was somewhat "leaky" and that Mexicans seem to be able to enter our side without much difficulty.  Everyone, it seemed, was aware of the presence of "illegals" and no one really worried or cared about it one way or another.  I too, hardly paid any attention.  It seemed that the going rate for "Coyotes" (human smugglers) was less than a hundred dollars per head to cross the border, usually something like sixty dollars!  That was back in the 1970s.  Inflation has really caught up, today it is in several thousands!
     I left California in the late 1970s and went to work as a Foreign Service Officer for the State Department.  After an assignment in Tokyo, followed by one in Athens, I was assigned to Guayaquil, Ecuador.  Before going down to Ecuador, I had to undergo Spanish language training at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington.  After I finished my language training, I was going on a month or so of home leave in Arizona before heading south.  But before I went to Arizona to join Jo and the kids, I was instructed to swing by San Diego and visit the U.S. Border Patrol Regional Headquarters in San Isidro (just south of San Diego) and be briefed by the Border Patrol and INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) at the border on the problem of illegal border crossings.  So, I first flew out to San Diego and stopped to see INS and Border Patrol.  INS gave me a briefing with charts and all sorts of numbers, informing me that the illegal border crossers numbered in the millions each year!  I was not aware that the numbers were so high, and I was somewhat skeptical of those numbers during the briefing, thinking that INS was blowing up the figures to try and get more funding!
     The Border Patrol first took me to see the border at Otay Mesa during daylight hours.  It was rather peaceful, and I could clearly see the Mexican side from the U.S. side across a wide open expanse.  There was no fence of any kind.  Looking through binoculars, I could see literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of makeshift camp sites with camp fires and even music floating across the way.  You could even smell the cooking when the wind blew just right.  It was very peaceful. The Border Patrol told me that all those "campers" were simply waiting for dark to cross the border!  They told me to return at dusk to view what really happened after dark, that the peaceful scene was going to transform into a chaotic mess!  So, I went back to my hotel and waited until dusk.  After eating an early meal I went back to Border Patrol Station and they took me out to the same spot as soon as it became dark.
     When we approached the very same spot where we were earlier during the daylight hours, the scene was completely different.  It was no longer a scene of tranquility, instead it reminded me of a scene out of a war zone, straight out of Vietnam!  Helicopters were hovering overhead with searchlights pointed downward, and Border Patrol vehicles were criss-crossing the landscape trying to apprehend people running all over the place, all headed north!  It was incredible, I never imagined that the illegal border crossing could have been so large, involving so many people, and this was just at one spot!  I was told that it was like that all across the California border with Mexico where there were crossing points!  It was nightmarish, a war zone!
     The Border Patrol told me that they were very short handed and that they were lucky if they could apprehend 1/4th of the people that were  crossing at night.  I asked them how many they thought were getting through, and they said without hesitation that at least a million a year!  Now this didn't jive with all the figures released by the government.  In fact, back in those days, hardly anyone ever mentioned anything about illegal border crossers!  According to the latest government figures, there were less than a million illegal residents in the United States.  How could that be if according to Border Patrol figures, a million a year got through?
     The Border Patrol said that the vast majority of illegals that they apprehended were Mexicans.  But, there were many South Americans and Central Americans as well, and most of them would claim that they were Mexican, so that when they were deported, they were simply dumped across the border and they could try again!  There were also a number of Eastern Europeans, Middle Easterners, and Asians.  Border Patrol had so many people that they apprehended each night that they couldn't be bothered to categorize each crosser, so there were only two categories:  Mexicans and Other Than Mexican or OTMs!
     I left the border with my head literally spinning.  I developed a totally different view on the illegal alien, i.e., "undocumented immigrant" issue at that point.  It was obvious to me that if there was a "Fifth Column," an unseen and unknown element of people in America, it was the "undocumented immigrant" population.  That was in the fall of 1983!

Washington's Infatuation with Special Operations and Air War

     I should qualify the title by modifying it to, " Washington's Civilian Leaders' Infatuation with Special Operations and Air War."  That is not to say that there aren't Generals in the Pentagon who are not in favor of special operations and air war, but the military leadership, unlike the civilians, also recognizes that bombing and special operations alone cannot win wars.  The civilian leaders, on the other hand, seem to think that we can win wars by bombing, the so-called "shock and awe" approach, and using limited, special operations.  In other words, they think we can defeat the enemy such as Al Qaeda and ISIS by carrying out a limited war, a nice clean war with surgical air strikes and precise special operations, all within a specified time period, say a two or three year period.  After that, we announce that the war is over!  Nice and neat.
     Washington's infatuation with special operations is not something new.  In more recent history, during World War Two, it was FDR, our president, who was quite taken by OSS and all the cloak and dagger stuff.  In fact, it was FDR who brought in Bill Donovan, a World War One hero, to create OSS and develop special operations capability which the US did not have at the time.  We were pretty new to all the special operations stuff at the start of the war, but we learned quickly.  Despite FDR's personal interest in special operations, there have always been military leaders, high up the ladder, who opposed anything new.  So, as soon as the war ended, we got rid of all special operations units that we had and OSS was no more.
        Five years later, during Korean War, the army scrambled to raise special operations type units because there were none!  That was one of the chief reason why the Army Special Forces was created in 1952, during Korean War!  However, once the Korean War ended, the Special Forces was shunted aside and was on the verge of being eliminated.  There were many Army Generals who disliked "special" units and wanted to get rid of Special Forces.
     JFK was a great admirer and proponent of special operations, and he in a sense, saved the Special Forces.  When he came into office, one of the first things that he did was officially designate the green beret as the headgear for the Army Special Forces.  He was fascinated by the Special Forces and ordered that it be increased in size.  He felt that special warfare was what was needed in the future "brush fire wars" as the smaller conflicts were called at the time.  Being a Navy veteran, he did not want his old service to be left out so he ordered the creation of the Navy SEALs, something similar to what army had.  The Marines, in the meantime, created the Force Recon, a much smaller version of the WWII Raiders/Para Marines.
     During Vietnam War, the special operations came into its own.  The MAAG-V, the Military Assistance and Advisory Group-Vietnam, created the SOG, the Studies and Observation Group.  Initially it was called Special Operations Group but the name was changed to make it sound more innocuous, since it was a highly classified unit.  SOG was mainly composed of Army Special Forces personnel, but there were also Navy (SEALs) and Marine Corps members as well.  There were also highly classified operations run by Special Forces teams with Mike Forces and other indigenous troops like the PRU. During Vietnam War, these units conducted thousands of classified operations and to their credit, not a single one of the operations was made public, not until all of the missions were declassified some 30 years later! 
     Not quite the same as what is going on today.  Today, it seems, no one can keep a secret and classified operations are made public almost immediately with books, TV shows and movies!  Remember on TV, the scene in which the President, along with all his cabinet members sat glued to a monitor screen transfixed, watching the operation of killing of Bin Laden unfold. Is it surprising then that all of those civilian leaders are so into special operations?  They've been watching special operations on monitors like watching football games! 
     Precisely and quickly carried out, well planned and executed, special operations can seem like a video game, nice and clean, and watching from a distance, on a screen, very appealing especially to those unfamiliar with combat.  When you combine this with aerial bombardment with smart bombs that hit targets precisely and duplicate video games almost exactly, the appeal of this type of approach to warfare is overwhelming.  What the proponents of fighting wars only with special operations and aerial bombardment don't seem to realize is that this approach is limited.  It is conducting a limited war, and limited wars never work!  We tried that in Vietnam and it didn't work.  We were trying that in Afghanistan and it did not work, there is now talk of delaying our pull out from that country and increasing troop strength!
     Don't get me wrong, I am not against special operations or aerial bombardment.  If anything, I am, somewhat partial when it comes to special operations.  However, I also know that you cannot win wars with special operations and bombing only.  Just as at the outset of our war in Afghanistan, the special operations and bombing was able to defeat Taliban forces, conventional troops were still needed to retain all the territory that had been gained.  To do that, you need boots on the ground!  In Vietnam, despite all of the success enjoyed by Special Forces, conventional troops were needed on the ground to keep the territory that had been gained.  Unfortunately, we could not rely on ARVN troops, so US troops were needed.  In Afghanistan, after winning the initial war against Taliban with Special Forces and the Northern Alliance, we could not depend on the Northern Alliance to maintain the territory, they were squabbling amongst each other and graft and corruption began to take over very early, so US troops were needed on the ground.
     Today we have a very large Joint US Special Operations Command that consists of all branches of the service and numbers somewhere around 50,000 strong.  It is the largest special operations force that we have ever had.  But still, as large and well trained as it is, it alone cannot conduct and win wars!  Our Air Force is the best in the world, with the largest and most sophisticated selection of planes and armament, and that does not include the Navy and Marines, as well as Army Aviation!  But they are really of no use if we keep on limiting ourselves by setting artificial restrictions like time tables that we announce ahead of time!  
     The best weapon in war is surprise, and by announcing ahead of time that we will conduct this particular war for a two or three year period, or something like that, we are giving up the biggest advantage even before we start fighting!  It is not a video game that you play for a set time!
     I believe that the biggest problem that we have in Washington today is that we have a bunch of civilians with no military experience or background who make all of the key decisions when it comes to war.  This actually started a while back during Jimmy Carter era when the Iranian Hostage Crises took place in 1979.  Our failed rescue attempt was mainly caused by mechanical failures of aircrafts, but even barring that, those in the military bitterly complained that the whole "Desert One" operation was micromanaged by the "Georgia Mafia" in the White House.  Every move had to be approved by the White House!  Today, it seems that micromanaging of military operations by civilians, White House in particular, seems to be the norm.  Now do you wonder why our war on ISIS has gone nowhere since it started six months ago!

War Against ISIS

     The recent killing of Jordanian F-16 pilot by ISIS has generated some strong language from Jordanian officials, beginning with King Abdullah.  Jordanians are rightfully outraged with the barbaric killing of their pilot by ISIS and everyone, from street vendors in Amman to high government officials like the Interior Minister are promising revenge. 
     Our interest in this affair has spiked somewhat since the announcement that there is a possibility that an American, a young woman, was killed in the Jordanian bombing.  It bothers me that when previously Americans were so barbarously beheaded and videotaped, we really didn't do anything in response.  There's been all sorts of talk that we will combat ISIS and "degrade" (whatever that means!) their capability, but really nothing much has happened.  "Degrading," in White House-Speak, simply means that we will bomb the enemy until we think they are no longer capable of doing whatever they were doing, supposedly.  It doesn't mean reducing the enemy's capability until they submit to unconditional surrender.  "Degrading" is not what we did to Germany and Japan in World War Two. "Degrading" is what we did to Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War when we stopped short of Baghdad, and look what that got us, a second Gulf War from which we have yet to extricate ourselves gracefully!
     The reason that I am so critical of our inaction, and our current false hope that perhaps now the Arabs themselves will clean-up the act, that somehow in their outrage Jordan and other Arab nations will rid of ISIS.  That, simply put, will not happen!  Remember Saddam Hussein's promise to have the "mother of all battles" in the first Gulf War?  That promise was no different than the statement recently made by Jordan's Interior Minister.  His statement that Jordan and Arab allies will destroy ISIS, that the "gates of hell had been opened,"  is certainly very colorful language.  He said that it was not America's war now, that it was now an Arab war. You mean to tell me that by killing one Jordanian it became an Arab war?  All the other killings that took place, that of the Americans, the British, the Japanese, and all the fighting that is taking place on Arab soil and all the Syrians and Iraqis that were/are killed, did not make it their war, but one Jordanian pilot murdered makes it an Arab war!  An interesting perspective!  It may very well be true that the war against ISIS is an Arab war, but call me a skeptic, a pessimist, a naysayer, whatever you like, the Arabs will never be able to defeat ISIS on their own!
    First let me cite some historical background so that you can get a better understanding of all this strong verbiage that is currently emitting from the mouths of Jordanian leadership.  In 1948, before even Israel was a bona fide independent state, a much superior, combined force of Arab countries launched an attack on the newly formed state of Israel.  The three main aggressor countries were Syria, Egypt and Jordan.  In addition, there was the Arab League (a league of several Arab countries), the Holy War Army (composed of volunteers from various Arab countries) and the Arab Liberation Army (another Arab volunteer army, an organization like the Holy War Army).  There was some very strong language coming from the Arab leadership.  Things like, "we will obliterate the Jews from this land," etc.  The combined Arab forces were far superior to anything that the Israelis could field, yet, they were soundly defeated by the undermanned and underequipped, rag-tag infant Israeli defense force.
     In 1967, while we were embroiled in Vietnam, the combined forces of Arab nations tried it again.  This time, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon were the main aggressors.  They were supported by all remaining Arab nations.  Once again, the Arab forces were vastly superior to Israeli forces.  The outcome after six days?  Israel lost less than a 1,000 men while the Arab forces lost over 20,000.  Additionally, the Israel gained huge chunks of new territory!  This was the "Six Day War!"  The de facto Arab leader was Nassar of Egypt who boldly announced to the world that "Israel will no longer exist" after they got through with it!  Nassar lost all support and prestige from his allies after that fiasco and ultimately lost his power in Egypt.
     In 1973, only six years after their defeat in the "Six Day War," the Arabs tried again in the now famous "Yom Kippur War" launching a surprise attack while all of Israel was celebrating its religious holiday. This time Egypt and Syria were the main aggressors while Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and other Arab countries provided some personnel and equipment.  Egypt fielded an 800,000 man army while Syria had 150,000 troops.  Israel initially attempted to defend itself with less than 100,000 men and suffered some set backs.  But after regrouping and calling up the reserves, the Israelis were able to mobilize a 400,000 man army, still less than half the size of the Arab army.  This one lasted longer, a bit over two weeks!  Well, we all know how it ended.  If it hadn't been for Jimmy Carter and the so-called Camp David Accords, Israel would still be occupying the Sinai Peninsula and peeking into Egypt across the rather narrow Suez Canal.
     If I sound cynical and a bit sarcastic it is because I do not believe ISIS will be defeated by Jordan or any other Arab nation or even combined Arab forces no matter what Arab leaders say.  I question the motivation and leadership of the Arab nations' military forces.  It is not a question of courage, but rather that of motivation which I believe is lacking in most Arab armies.  Look at what is happening with the so-called Iraqi Security Forces, the new Iraqi Army.  There is no question that they are better trained and better armed than they were during the days of Saddam Hussein.  Yet, they are unable and unwilling to face ISIS and other insurgents.  When we went to war against Iraq, their so-called elite Republican Guard, supposedly the best of their army, turned out to be a joke!  So even the old Iraqi army was no good. The same thing can be said of the new Afghan army.  It seems that only the peshmerga, the Kurds are able to fight.  That appears to be because they are ethnically and culturally different and therefore, don't seem to have the problem or moral issue of facing a fellow Muslim or countrymen in combat.  Additionally, the Kurds are motivated!  It is "us against them" mentality that drives the peshmerga!
     The Jordanians say that all they need is more hardware, weaponry from us, and they will do the fighting and "drive ISIS into hell."  Nothing would make me happier if that was indeed the case and we did not have to risk any American lives and instead have a viable proxy fighting force that defeated ISIS.  But that will never happen.  The only way to defeat an enemy like ISIS is with "boots on the ground" (our boots!) and not "shock and awe" bombing.  The bombing only works if it is in conjunction with ground troops, and I don't believe that Jordanian or any Arab army is capable of destroying ISIS, not without our direct help!  Unfortunately, many of our civilian leaders in Washington are enamored with the "shock and awe" concept. The idea of conducting a "distant" war with inanimate objects is highly appealing.  I believe they have been playing too many video games and are convinced that real wars are fought the same way!
     What we need to do, at the very least, is provide Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) type assistance if we are unwilling to put boots on the ground.   We should provide military advisors to key Jordanian or other Arab ground units fighting ISIS.  We should have experienced MAAG type Army and Marine Corps officers advising and directing the troops.  In Vietnam, there was a marked difference in the fighting ability of RVN units when they had U.S. Army or Marine Corps advisors.  Those RVN units fought well,  unlike other RVN units that did not have U.S. advisors with them.
     By now we should have learned that all the brave talk of "mother of all battles," etc., really mean nothing.  As the old saying goes, "action speaks louder than words," and so far we have seen nothing of action.  Yes, the Jordanians have stepped up the bombing.  But that is the easy part.  As long as we provide them with hardware, they will fly and drop those bombs, it is not quite the same as being on the ground confronting ISIS face to face.  Will they be able to do that without our direct help, without at least our "advisors" at their side?  I doubt it.  Call me a skeptic, but we all know that verbiage alone will not defeat the enemy!

We Sure Know How To Pick Them, Don't We?

     Ever since the end of World War Two, we have been involved in so-called "nation building," trying to create nations in our image of what a nation should be.  We have picked or supported leaders who supposedly met our needs and threw mountains of dollars at them in hopes that they will create nations that will meet our requirements and be our allies.  Unfortunately, we seem to have failed miserably in that department, mainly because the leaders that we picked or supported turned out not to be what we expected.
     I am very curious to know as to just what process we follow to select these leaders.  What vetting system do we employ to decide that this or that person is the right one to support?  Whatever system or method, if we have any, that we are employing is obviously not working.  Time and time again we seem to pick the wrong individuals!
     I don't wish to beat a dead horse, since I have covered this topic before, but starting with our backing of the Nationalist China and Chiang Kai Sheik during and after World War Two, we seem to make wrong choices, one after another.  We had a chance with China when we sent the ill fated Dixie Mission to Yenan to report on Mao and his group.  Our specially picked observers reported dutifully and recommended that they believed Mao was a better choice!  Instead of heeding the advice of those who were on the ground, who were all experts on China and familiar with the situation, the decision makers went with the advice of those who had no idea what really was going on, but were staunch anti-communists.  After ruining the lives and careers of loyal Americans that we sent on the Dixie Mission, calling them communists, etc., and pledging undying support for the Nationalists, we dumped Chiang Kai Sheik and the Nationalists unceremoniously a little over twenty years later and became friends with PRC, but not before the Korean War and Vietnam!
     In Vietnam, after the French and the Emperor of Vietnam Boa Dai were badly beaten by the communists, we took over and supported the corrupt regime of Ngo Dinh Diem for almost a decade!  We finally got tired of his corruption and engineered a coupe in 1963 and had generals take over.  For a while General "Big" Minh was our favorite.  After all, he led the coupe against Ngo Dinh Diem.  But Minh, it turned out, was not a very good leader so we had him replaced with another general who also turned out inadequate.  We finally ended up with Thiu, another general, and a clown for Vice President, Nguyen Kao Ky, before the whole thing fell apart and the Ho Chi Minh's forces took over the country and we lost everything that we invested in that place, which was considerable both in dollars and lives!
     Oh, by the way, we did have an opportunity to back Ho, who incidentally was our only ally in Indochina during World War Two.  In fact, we had promised him that we would support his bid for independence.  After all, that is what America stood for, and Ho knew it!  But alas, when push came to shove, those brilliant minds in Washington ( I almost said Hollywood!), once again, a bunch of "experts" who had no knowledge of Southeast Asia, decided to maintain status quo, so to speak and back the corrupt regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, and we know where that led to!
     There were also a multitude of smaller nations that we "built" that didn't pan out as we planned, but the American public is mostly unaware of those countries existence.  Some did make the news.  Remember Noriega in Panama?  He was our creation, our Frankenstein!  He was on CIA payroll for a long time before he went "rogue" so-to-speak.  Of course, we took care of that, at great expense, I might add. 
     Now, with the current problems in the Middle East, we are confronted with inadequate leadership in Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries in which we spent enormous amount of money, lost American lives, and more than likely will continue to spend money and lose lives for the time to come yet.  In Afghanistan we are sort of stuck with Hamid Karzai.  There probably isn't anyone that we can identify at this time that is capable of leading that nation.  At the time we supported Karzai, he was the right guy since he was one of the leaders of the Northern Alliance whose support we needed to oust the Taliban.  Karzai's family has been in a leadership position with one of the major tribes in the area, so his support was crucial.  Besides, Hamid Karzai had been on our payroll for a number of years, he was what is often referred to as a CIA "contractor."  So, he was used to getting money from us, which he continues to receive in huge amounts.  His family is very controversial, since one of his brothers who was recently killed had been identified as a major opium supplier and another brother is a banker whose banks had just failed and many people lost their entire savings, etc.  Wrapped in controversy, Hamid Karzai is far from ideal, but we are stuck with him for now.
     Iraq's Nouri al-Maliki is somewhat of an enigma in a sense that it is hard to understand how he had received our approval.  After our successful initial year in Iraq, we tried to establish a new government and supposedly all of the Iraqis that participated in establishing the new government met our approval, or should have, after all, we had just defeated Saddam Hussein and had complete control of Iraq, or so we thought.  Maliki was supposedly vetted by our intelligence, which is hard to understand considering his background.  Maliki was anti-Saddam and had to flee Iraq, that would be his only qualification for the new government.
     When he went into exile, he went to Syria where he became very chummy with the Assad regime.  They allowed him complete freedom of movement and action, and he was very closely associated with Iranian sponsored terrorist organization Hezbollah, that launched attacks against Israel.  His association with the terrorist group made his presence in Syria a bit risky.  It was rumored that Israeli Mossad had targeted him for assassination, so he moved to Iran.  In Iran he was welcomed and treated very well and he was often seen with various Iranian leaders.  This was basically his background before Saddam's regime fell and Maliki returned to Iraq.
     When the first new Iraqi government was established, we vetted Maliki who became the Prime Minister of the new regime.  Immediately there were problems.  Instead of trying to unite the various sectarian groups, a major problem in that part of the world, Maliki showed his true colors and became very divisive, favoring the Shia (sometimes spelled Shiite) and actually refusing to accept some of the minorities into the government.  After a long term as Prime Minister (2006-2014), long enough to do a lot of damage and start the seeds of sectarian violence, Sunni vs. Shia, he finally agreed to leave office.  But his sabbatical from politics was very brief, less than a month, for he was elected to Vice Presidency shortly after.  Now, as Vice President, he seems to have more power than the President and the Prime Minister.  The way the Iraqi government is set up, it is the Prime Minister that is supposed to have the political power.  But Maliki seems to have changed that. 
     Some claim that the whole business of ISIS is Maliki's fault, that his refusal to include the Sunni in the government brought about this horrible splinter group.  If that is indeed the case, then it is but one of the many problems that he has created.  He won't allow any entry of additional U.S. or NATO troops without special permission.  The 300 "trainers" that we were supposed to send to Iraq have not yet been given permission to enter!  Australia has also committed several hundred "trainers" but they too are awaiting visas!  Visas!  What a ridiculous demand and situation!  That is Maliki.  Besides being corrupt and having gotten filthy rich off our dollars that we poured in, he plays real hard ball and favors Iran as an ally!  This seems to be a surprise to some in our government (I guess they never looked into his background!) and now they want him out since he appears to be a major obstacle not only in unifying Iraq but combatting ISIS as well.
     Yes, we sure do know how to pick them!

Another "Local Boy" Set-Up for a Fall!

     The term "local boy" is used in a variety of ways.  But one common usage is by Hawaiians when referring to someone from Hawaii.  Hawaiians call those from Hawaii as "local" - boys or girls.  That label is reserved only for those from Hawaii, not from the mainland.
     Eric Shinseki is a "local boy" that made good in the army.  He is the first "local boy", for that matter any Asian-American, to attain the rank of four star general in the army and hold the office of Army Chief of Staff.  Shinseki came from a family that had many of its men serve in the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most highly decorated unit of its size in the entire U.S. military.  The 442nd RCT was primarily made up of "local boys," mostly Nisei, second generation Japanese-Americans, although there were Korean-American and Chinese-American members as well.  Shinseki was motivated by what his relatives had accomplished, so he picked a career in the army.
     Eric Shinseki was commissioned out of West Point in 1965 and began his illustrious military career by serving two combat tours in Vietnam.  During his outstanding career he received numerous awards and decorations and steadily rose in rank.  In 1999, he was nominated for Army Chief of Staff by President Clinton and his military career had reached its peak.  The U.S. military does not have a rank above four stars.  The five star rank that McArthur and Eisenhower received were war time ranks, not normal ranks in the military.  So the four stars is as high as you can go, regardless of your branch of service.  The only other honor that you can achieve is to become the Chief of Staff of your branch of service, which Shinseki did, and the final step is to receive an appointment as Joint Chief of Staff.  But you do not get a higher rank, its just a job title, position, your pay grade stays the same.
     At the pinnacle of his career as a four star general and the Army Chief of Staff, Shinseki ran into disagreement with the Secretary of Defense, but most especially with the Deputy Secretary of Defense at the time.  The Pentagon was on the verge of launching its Operation Iraqi Freedom and the civilian leaders naturally wanted his views on their planned invasion.  Shinseki disagreed with their plan.  He insisted that the invasion should include several hundred thousand troops, troops especially prepared to handle occupation duties after the defeat of Saddam Hussein's forces.  This is not what the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and especially the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz wanted to hear.  They had convinced the White House that the invasion could be carried out successfully on the cheap, so-to-speak, with much fewer troops.  Shinseki agreed that it would not take many troops to defeat Saddam, but he insisted that more troops would be needed to maintain order during occupation, otherwise, he said, insurgency would arise and create major problems.  He was right, of course!  Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz did not want to hear that.  They were trying to sell the idea of the invasion to the White House and the main selling point was that it would not cost much in dollars nor manpower!
     Although it is said that he had already planned for retirement, nevertheless, Shinseki's retirement seemed a bit premature.  Especially since there was talk before that he was the next man up for the position of Joint Chief.  Of course that never happened and Shinseki left the army.
     His bad luck was to follow him later under the next administration.  He was appointed to the office of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, seemingly a perfect job for someone who was veteran!  But following the scandal that broke out of the VA hospital in Phoenix, AZ, Shinseki became the scapegoat and was forced to resign.  A sad ending to an otherwise outstanding career as a soldier, a true American hero who spent his entire life willingly placing it in harm's way on behalf of the country.  What a sad way to treat someone like him!  His problem is that he is not a politician, just a soldier!
     Now there is another "local boy" who has surfaced as the administration's poster boy in the fight against ISIS.  Major General Michael Nagata is another local boy who was motivated into making army his career because of relatives who were veterans of 442nd and his own father who is a retired Army Colonel.  Nagata received his commission in 1982 and almost immediately joined the Special Forces.  He began his career with the Special Forces on Okinawa and then continued to serve in various capacities in different Special Forces assignments.  During his more than 30 years of service in the army, he has spent most of the time with the Special Forces or the Special Operations.  In September of 2014 he was appointed as the Commanding General of Special Operations Command Central (the Special Operations Command Central is responsible for the Middle East) and has been tasked with training Syrian rebels to fight ISIS.
     No doubt Nagata is the best qualified of all officers currently in our service for the job of leading our forces in combatting ISIS.  The problem is not Nagata, his ability, or qualifications.  The problem is that he has been given an impossible task, essentially a no-win situation.  He is told to defeat and "degrade" ISIS capability with a handful of men and limited resources.  Limited because Washington does not want to "blow up" the situation.  The idea is to keep the situation under control, neatly wrapped-up, and chip away at ISIS.  Additionally, with the kind of micro-managing that takes place, micro-managing by civilians with no military experience, you can count on some major blunders.  Guess who is going to take the blame, take the fall for our failures in Syria?
     Its too bad.  From everything that one hears about Michael Nagata, he is an excellent soldier, especially well versed in the art of unconventional warfare and special operations.  But given the circumstances into which he has been put, it is just a matter of time that some major mishap will take place and Washington will point a finger at him for not doing his job properly, and another scapegoat will take his place, hopefully not another "local boy"!