Sailors from the Norfolk-based destroyer James E. Williams boarded a North Korean merchant ship that had been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia...Three corpsman, accompanied by armed Sailors and a Williams crew member who spoke Korean, boarded the Dai Hong Dan from a rigid hull inflatable boat. The corpsman assisted wounded crew members and attackers. Three Koreans were transported to the Williams for medical attention before being returned to their ship.
There's been an ongoing discussion with new commenter aon in this post. Aon implicitly questioned the accuracy of the theme of the great US Torture and Atrocities blog and instead links to this Forbes story about American torture of prisoners as more symbolic of America's behavior. I'd direct the pleasant and well-informed Aon to this blog post as well about the US Navy's involvement in the recovery of Banda Aceh following the tsunami a few years back.
In this story, we see the Navy helping North Koreans whose government has threatened us with a "sea of fire" as well as giving medical aid to the Somali pirates who murderously prey upon shipping in the area. That's America. Fantastic military power managed by deeply moral people guided by Christian beliefs.
Hat Tips: Photo from NavSource Online. Thanks to Captain Ed for his link to the story above.
4 comments:
This is outstanding! Any response so far from Kim?
K T Cat,
I consider myself a Christ-follower, but am a little uncomfortable characterizing our brave sailors as being guided by Christian beliefs. I know the sentiment you are trying to express, but I am also a great respecter of the establishment clause of the constitution. More accurately, but certainly less elegantly than you state it, our sailors are guided by deep ethical and humanitarian principles that are rooted in Christian teaching.
A ha! Who would have thought that it would be B-Daddy who would have fallen into my carefully woven web?
I can't remember if it was Michael Medved or Dennis Prager (both Jewish) who got me to see that America is a Christian nation. Thanks to organizations like the ACLU, we've mistakenly avoided saying this because we don't want to seem like the Taliban, but America is indeed Christian.
79.8% of Americans are Christian. I would bet that if you included the illegals, that number would rise above 80%.
While individuals are free to practice what they choose, it's a pretty long stretch to suggest that a nation that is 80% Christian is not a Christian nation.
K T Cat,
OK, I see your point. Unfortunately, my particular religious frame of reference equates Christian with Christ-follower, which is a much narrower term. I don't have poll numbers to back me up, but the folks in my church-going community would say that those who self identify as Christians are more typically cultural Christians, i.e. they follow certain Christian traditions, but are not in fact Christ-followers. I concede your point and offer this by way of explanation as to how I made this mistake. Also, your comment accrues to the leadership of the nation in general, not those sailors in particular.
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