Tim Sumner

Keeping the faith

U.S. Navy World War II hero passes

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England’s Telegraph UK has the story:

Rear-Admiral Eugene Fluckey, who has died aged 93, was one of the most highly decorated American submariners of the Second World War.

On January 25 1945 Fluckey was commanding the Gato-class submarine Barb when, in a feat of brilliant deduction and bold tracking, he located a concentration of more than 30 Japanese ships in the lower reaches of Nankuan Chiang, 250 miles south of Shanghai. Ordering “Battle stations!” he penetrated the heavy enemy screen and, riding in only five fathoms of water, launched his forward torpedoes at a range of 3,000 yards.

Quickly bringing his boat’s stern tubes to bear, he fired four more, which obtained eight hits on six of the main targets, and blew up a large ammunition ship, causing further damage to the enemy. Fluckey then cleared the area by running at full speed through the uncharted, mined and rock-obstructed waters to safety. Earlier in the same patrol he had sunk a large enemy ammunition ship during a running two-hour night battle and, as he withdrew to base on January 29, sank another large Japanese freighter.

Fluckey took command of Barb in April 1944, when on five patrols his initiative and aggression cost the enemy dear. On his first war patrol off northern Japan he sank five ships by torpedo and, in a series of surface gun duels, destroyed some 20 small vessels. During his next patrol, between the Philippines and China, he sank three more Japanese ships, including the 20,000-ton escort carrier Unyo and an 11,000-ton Japanese tanker with the same salvo.

Between October 1944 and February 1945 Fluckey operated in the East China Sea and in the summer Barb became the first American submarine to be armed with rockets, which were used to strike at a Japanese air station and several factories.

On July 23 Fluckey raised his own commando of eight volunteers, who paddled on to Sakhalin Island under cover of night and planted explosive charges on railway lines 400 yards inland. Fluckey considered giving the crewmen a terse Hollywood-style send-off, but all he could think of was: “Boys, if you get stuck, head for Siberia, 130 miles north. Follow the mountain ranges. Good luck.” As they paddled back to Barb, the wreckage of a 16-car train flew 200ft into the air.

Fluckey was known to flout the US Navy’s prohibition on alcohol by stashing cases of beer in the officers’ shower and whenever Barb sank a ship everyone on board celebrated with a cold drink. His official score was 95,360 tons of enemy shipping, though he reckoned this should have been 145,000 tons.

He was awarded the Medal of Honour, four Navy Crosses, the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit. Barb received four Presidential unit citations and several Navy unit commendations. But Fluckey often said that his greatest achievement was that no one under his command ever received another well-known medal: the Purple Heart for being wounded in action. “He was absolutely confident and absolutely fearless, but fearless with good judgment,” said a contemporary. “He brought his ship and his people home.”

Why are not Rear-Admiral Fluckey’s passing and exploits a headline on the front pages of every newspaper in America?

American jihad, Iran, War on Terror

JFK airport attack plotter wanted help from Iran

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The New York Sun reports:

A Shiite imam accused of plotting to blow up fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy International Airport wanted to seek Iranian backing for the terrorist plot. The disclosure came yesterday in a court decision denying bail to the Trinidadian-based cleric, Kareem Ibrahim.

Mr. Ibrahim, 62, is one of four men arrested last month on charges connected to the plot. At the time, American law enforcement officials said Mr. Ibrahim encouraged his co-conspirators to seek funding for the attack from outside their home countries of Trinidad or Guyana. While American authorities have not provided more details, a judge in Trinidad wrote that evidence, including tape recordings, suggests Mr. Ibrahim intended to seek backing for the plot from individuals in Iran or Britain.

In those recordings, Judge Prakash Moosai wrote, Mr. Ibrahim “refers to an ‘Iranian brother’ passing through Trinidad and Tobago, and of sending a ‘trusted brother’ to Iran to speak to the top men of the revolutionary movement there about the plan.” The judge’s decision does not clarify whether “the revolutionary movement there” refers to the government of the Islamic Republic. Nor does Judge Moosai state whether the plotters actually disclosed the plan to contacts in Iran or simply considered doing so. Mr. Ibrahim also spoke of contacting “brothers in England,” the decision said.

Mr. Ibrahim’s alleged efforts to find foreign backing mark the second Iran connection to surface in a case that initially appeared confined to the Western Hemisphere. At the time of his arrest, another of the defendants, Abdul Kadir of Guyana, was preparing to travel to Iran to attend an Islamic conference, according to news reports. Two of Mr. Kadir’s children were studying in Iran at the time of his arrest, according to reports.

The extent of Mr. Ibrahim’s own international contacts is unclear. He has not left Trinidad since 1979, according to the court decision. But one lead under investigation by Trinidadian law enforcement is whether Mr. Ibrahim had ties to Shiite organizations in southern Iraq and Iran through an Islamic discussion group he hosted, the Trinidad Express reported last month.