Take your choice of Web sites that recorded America's - and Turkey's - loss of face.
- Newsbusters Nets Ignore Far-Left Agenda of 'Fringe' Mob's Attack on U.S. Sailors in Turkey -
Washington Post In new video, U.S. sailors attacked in Istanbul by Turkish mob
CNN U.S. sailors attacked in Turkey, have bags placed over heads
Fox News US Navy sailors harassed, assaulted in Turkey
Daily Mail (UK) 'Yankee, go home!': Moment US sailors were attacked by angry mob of Turkish nationalists who pelted them with rocks and put white bags on their heads in Istanbul
Arutz 7Turkish Mob Attacks US Sailors
This wasn't a "flash mob" that just gathered at a moment's notice.
So
- a) Where were the Turkish police?
b) Where was the U.S. Navy's Shore Patrol?
Given the nature of Muslim controlled countries, isn't an attack such as occurred in Istanbul to be expected and if it is to be expected, why did Turkey allow it to happen? (The only thing the Shore Patrol might have been able to do was show presence and call for civilian authorities.)
The USS Ross (DDG-71) is not a small "boat" that would go unnoticed.
Similar to USS Ross, DDG-71
Do we REALLY need Turkish ports of call?
Istanbul may have been, at one time, a desirable port of call for U.S. interests. But since the rise in power of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the country has turned from a Western-oriented semi-democracy to a pro-Islamist near dictatorial state.
There are many other port-of-call options around the Mediterranean and Black Sea ports that would welcome U.S. sailors (and their money).
Greece, given its relationship with Turkey, probably would be delighted to have a Ross-class ship dock at one of its ports. A US flag flying in Odessa's port - is it a Ukrainian or Russian port today? - might be problematic, but calling at Israel's Haifa would put the sailors at a friendly port. Egypt's Alexandria might be similar to Istanbul except that I suspect the Egyptian government would not tolerate an attack on American sailors as Erdogan and friends permitted.
A bit of trivia. The USS Momsen (pictured above) is named for Vice Adm. Charles Bowers "Swede" Momsen, the inventor of the Momsen Lung, a breathing device that allowed submariners to escape their boats when surfacing was impossible.
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