> > > There will be a Court Martial.  Someone didn't set a
> >  > security watch or was looking the wrong way.
> >
> >  Is there a basis for this "fact"? In a foreign port, where
> uncontrolled
> >  piers are 30 seconds away, neither negligence nor
> incompetence are required
> >  precursors to a successful penetration like this.
>
> If there is no basis not in fact, there is an enormous amount
> of precedence
> that would suggest such a response. Just by coincidence,
> yesterday, a bill
> passed the House that would restore the honor of the two
> commanders at Pearl
> Harbor who were in charge at the time of the Japanese attack.

I suggest that WWII citations might not be the best evidence; how many ship
COs, pilots, Squadron Commanders, Regimental Commanders, etc. etc. lost
battles, people, equipment, tanks, ships, aircraft, or entire bases, towns,
and islands in WWII? How many of those were tried or punished? JFK lost an
entire ship, albeit a small one, but he seemed to come out of it OK.

Which does not mean that there are not occurrences of politically-motivated,
CYA, or "someone has to take the fall" situations; my point is that
decapitation is not automatic.
Consider the fire on board the U.S.S. Forrestal on 29 July 1967: 134 men
were killed, dozens were severely injured; over 3/4 of the ship's aircraft
suffered damage, with over 20 of those being destroyed. The Commanding
Officer that day, Capt. John K. Beling, was relieved on schedule in
September and continued his career, including being promoted to Rear
Admiral.


Steve