OTHER COMMENTARY / EXCERPTS : Operation a Success, but the Patient Died

Once again there is no assuming of responsibility, no assignment of blame. The ghastly blunder of shooting down an Iran Airbus has produced from Washington only justifications, descriptions of extenuating circumstances--alibis. Not a word expressed about national responsibility or honor.

If, possessing appropriate equipment, the U.S. Navy’s commanders, radar and fire-control operators and gunners cannot function correctly under stress and in combat conditions, then the Navy is failing the United States. Those who command it, and are responsible for its training, are responsible for this affair.

No one said: “This was a terrible event. It should never have happened. It cannot be excused. Responsibility for it will be established and those in authority will be held accountable. Measures will be taken to ensure that it does not happen again. The United States government unreservedly apologizes.”

Americans don’t seem to be able to talk that way anymore. I wonder what Harry Truman or George Marshall or Dwight Eisenhower would make of the American government and military today. I wonder what a Decatur or a Farragut would think of this episode, or a Lee--who, when the War Between the States was lost, went to Appomattox Courthouse, he said, “to take the consequences of my acts.”