Defining Political Correctness In Middle Eastern Combat Zones
July 10, 2004

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

It really is a mad, mad, mad, mad world after all, especially during the war on terrorism. Now we are stuck with defining what constitutes “sensitivity” and what is political correctness.

Take this story which was published on-line in late June by WorldNetDaily.com (WND), in which the US Army was told not to use Israeli ammunition when fighting Muslim guerrillas and terrorists, but could do so for training to fight Muslim guerrillas and terrorists.

You might scratch your head, especially if you are serving in Iraq or Afghanistan or are a veteran of military service in prior combat. To most sensible people, it doesn’t really make a lot of difference who made the bullets being fired at you in combat, but anything is possible on Capitol Hill.

Here’s the WND story:

“Israeli-made bullets recently purchased by the US Army should be used for training only, not to fight Muslim guerrillas in Iraq and Afghanistan, US lawmakers told Army generals.

“Since the Army has other stockpiled ammunition, ‘by no means, under any circumstances should a round (from Israel) be utilized,’ said Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Subcommittee with jurisdiction over land forces.

“The Army contracted Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) in December for $70 million in small caliber ammunition. The Israeli firm was one of only two worldwide that could meet US technical specifications and delivery needs, said Brig. Gen. Paul Izzo, the Army’s program executive officer for ammunition. The other was East Alton, IL-based Winchester Ammunition, which also received a $70 million contract.

Sensitivity
“Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), who chairs the subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, concurred with Abercrombie, explaining that although the Army should not have to worry about ‘political correctness,’ there are still ‘propaganda pitfalls’ of using Israeli rounds in the US-declared war on terror.

“ ‘There’s a sensitivity that I think all of us recognize,’ Weldon told the Army witnesses, including Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, who led the US Third Infantry Division that captured Baghdad in April 2003.

“Blount, now the Army’s assistant deputy chief of staff, said the Army had sufficient small caliber ammunition—5.56mm, 7.62mm and .50 calibers—to conduct current operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere without using the Israeli ammo.

“But some Israeli military generals were upset. Israeli Defense Force Col. Moshe Lesheme told WND, ‘Israel has been at the forefront of the war on terror since its founding 50 years ago. We pioneered many of the anti-terror and urban-warfare techniques that the US military has no problem using in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israeli firms have created an enormous amount of military technology that enhanced the American military. And now suddenly our bullets are illegitimate?’

“ ‘It is decisions like these that feed the Palestinian propaganda machine and demean Israel,’ said Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America. ‘It makes it seem like there’s a difference between terrorism against Israelis and terrorism against anyone else. And that is simply unacceptable,’ ” WND concluded.

Of course, I can make a couple of suggestions. The first would be that the people in Congress get serious about this war. Our guys are getting killed over there, largely by guys who understand how to manipulate world opinion and the media in contemporary terms, but are culturally several centuries behind Western cultures.

The second relates to the guys who wear masks and dress in black for Al-Jazeera and other Arab television outlets when they videotape their set-piece presentations of hostages that they already plan to behead because the black outfits and masks instill even greater terror. Let’s play their own game and have the Army request that all small arms ammunition used in combat—of Israeli or American manufacture—be made exclusively with bullets that are also masked in black.

Perhaps the terrorists who want to instill terror in our world by hiding behind masks and beheading people in the finest traditions of the 15th century will get a taste of their own medicine if they are shot at with masked bullets, only some of which have been lubricated with pig fat.

Wars never were places for political correctness, or “sensitivity” as Congressman Weldon put it. And, judging from this column, editorials don’t have to be sensitive either.

More Mad World News
Usually we have so much to report in Gun Week that some stories don’t quite make our pages. Frequently, they are stories that demonstrate our contemporary departure from reality.

This week, for instance, Chuck Michel, an attorney and spokesman for the California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA), reported that some members of the gun ban lobby, who profess to be concerned about firearms safety these days, were opposing a measure in the California Assembly that promote gun safety education.

According to CRPA, Assemblyman Robert Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) has sponsored AB-2263, a bill that would have given local school districts the option of providing some basic grade 1-12 classroom safety education to children about the hazards of handling an unattended or unsafely stored gun. Essentially, this was a basic “Stop. Don’t touch. Tell an adult,” the NRA’s Eddie Eagle curriculum.

But Michel reported, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence went on record opposing the concept of teaching kids to leave guns alone, unless under supervision of an adult.

The Pediatricians contended that exposing children to the mere subject of firearms might invite a heightened interest in guns, or lead parents to be less cautious about keeping guns in a locked and secure place at home. The Coalition opposed teaching accident prevention techniques in schools because such education would “place the burden on young people to protect themselves from grave risks created by irresponsible adults.”

Other Oddnesses
I couldn’t close this column without mentioning that Republicans in Illinois now face the problem of finding a new candidate for the US Senate in the Nov. 2 election. The previous nominee, Jack Ryan, a millionaire investment banker who left the business world to teach at a Roman Catholic school in inner city Chicago, has pulled out of the race.

The reason: Allegations by his ex-wife, television actress Jeri Lynn Ryan, in previously sealed divorce papers involving a bitter custody battle four years ago that her husband had pressured her to perform sexually in front of other people. When that story first saw the light of day, Ryan said that he would stay in the Senate race, but pressure from officials and friends convinced him that withdrawing was the best option. Now there is the possibility Ryan’s case could lead to other politicians being embarrassed by the similar unsealing of sealed legal records.

Similarly, when an ethics scandal erupted in Connecticut and impeachment was imminent, Gov. John G. Rowland had said that he would not resign his office. Rowland had been considered a rising star in the Republican Party, just as Ryan had offered promise in Illinois that he might help the GOP keep control of the Senate by retaining the seat vacated by the retirement of Sen. Peter Fitzgerald.

In the end, Rowland was forced to resign his office, acknowledging publicly that “my poor judgment has brought us here.”

I can’t close this column without mentioning that former Maryland State Police Superintendent Edward T. Norris was sentenced to six months in prison for using thousands of dollars in police funds to pay for extramarital affairs while he was then chief of police in Baltimore. Norris must also serve six months of home detention after he leaves prison, The Washington Times reported.

Apparently there is a lot of truth to the saying that power corrupts.