The Criticality Of Strong, Resolute Leadership
A Lesson From Operation Praying Mantis
This is the U.S. guided missile frigate Samuel B. Roberts after striking an Iranian mine. This floating dry dock helped keep the crippled vessel afloat after the attack. (Source/Public domain)
Leadership is a big deal, particularly on the national stage. A nation’s resources or its innate strength really do not matter. If you have weak, feckless leadership, the world will walk all over you. By contrast, lesser nations, if deftly led, can still accomplish truly great things.
Part of the perennial problem is our unique system. It has been said that the American system of governance is the second worst on the planet. It is simply that everybody else ties for first. The rub is that our current political system does not naturally select for the best leaders. It selects for the most productive fundraisers. That is the reason Americans of eras past were led by the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, while today, we get whatever it is we have now.
In 1988, Ronald Reagan was President of the United States. While the Gipper and I had some fundamental philosophical disagreements over the machinegun ban of 1986, Reagan was the last American president to seem truly real to me. I realize he was an actor but listening to his speeches and studying the way he rolled, that guy really did passionately love America. He also was not afraid to unlimber the big stick when the situation demanded it.
This is the Iranian frigate Sahand burning from stem to stern after an
attack by aircraft of the U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing 11. Fifty-five Iranian
sailors perished in the inferno. (Source/Public domain)
The Event
On 14 April 1988, the American guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts was on routine patrol in international waters in the Persian Gulf when it struck a sea mine. The resulting explosion snapped the keel of the ship and punched through the hull. Only through the skillful and aggressive actions of the captain and her crew was the ship saved. Miraculously, no American lives were lost.
Subsequent assessment of the serial numbers of similar mines recovered in the area showed them to have come from the same lot as a batch seized on an Iranian barge the previous year. Once Reagan was convinced that it was the Iranians who were behind the mining, he let slip the dogs of war. Four days later, the U.S. Navy got busy.
This is the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. Big E formed the backbone of the naval strike group that helped put the holy smackdown on the Iranians after they mined the Persian Gulf.
The Players
Ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Iranians have not played well with others. They are one of the world’s foremost exporters of terrorism, supplying arms and support to Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen, to name but a few. I really cannot fathom what their philosophical problem might be. They always seem to have some furry turd psychopath calling the shots over there, and it shows.
In 1988, the Iran-Iraq War was still raging apace. Amidst the backdrop of such unfettered chaos, Uncle Sam’s Navy unleashed hell in the form of Operation Praying Mantis. The Navy brought four destroyers, one guided missile cruiser, three frigates, one amphibious transport dock and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the party.
Twenty-four hours later, the U.S. Navy had sunk one Iranian frigate, one gunboat and three heavily armed speedboats. We had also crippled a second frigate, destroyed a pair of weaponized oil platforms and blew the wing off of an Iranian F4 Phantom jet. U.S. forces then intentionally backed off to give the Iranians a chance to quit with dignity. American casualties were limited to two Marine aviators tragically lost when their AH-1T Sea Cobra gunship accidentally crashed into the sea while flying under night vision goggles. Strangely, we did not get much mischief out of the Iranians for quite some time after that decidedly one-sided exchange.
Ruminations
We Americans comprise 4% of the world’s population, yet we are responsible for 25% of the planet’s productivity. Though hardly the largest, ours is hands down the most formidable military in human history. We have spawned more Nobel laureates than the next five countries combined. I don’t mean to be so crass as to trumpet American exceptionalism, but we are objectively exceptional. Unfettered freedom really does work.
Right, wrong or otherwise, strength is the only thing that bad men understand. The world just runs better when everyone fears America. A world without a strong America is like recess without a teacher. In that space, the bullies have the run of the place. It’s a hop, skip and a jump from there to the “Lord of the Flies.” We see such unchecked evil on display in places like Ukraine and Sudan every day on the news.
I don’t pretend to tell anybody how to vote. You don’t want or need my advice, and nobody cares what I think anyway. I do wish Theodore Roosevelt was running for President in 2024. However, today’s Theodore Roosevelts have more sense than to seek that job. These days we’ll just need to work with what we’ve got. Regardless, be informed and vote carefully. The world desperately needs a strong America, whether it acknowledges that fact or not. These elections matter … a lot.
