Free Republic

Irony of ironies: The principal champion of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) is the United States Navy. Yet predictably few organizations would suffer more than America's naval forces from a supranational government of the oceans empowered by U.S. accession to that treaty. The absurdity of this situation was on display last week as the Navy's former senior officer, retired Chief of Naval Operations Vernon Clark, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Adm. Clark waxed on about LOST as "a Magna Carta for the oceans that guarantees navigation freedoms throughout the world's largest maneuver space." The committee's ranking...

Navy fleet in gulf ready for war, admiral says Hussein should know 'we're not playing games,' Clark warns 01/18/2003 By RICHARD WHITTLE / The Dallas Morning News MANAMA, Bahrain - The U.S. Navy's fleet in the Persian Gulf is ready for war if President Bush orders it, and Saddam Hussein "would be wise" to disarm peacefully, the chief of naval operations said Friday. "Our folks are ready; that's what I saw everywhere I went," Adm. Vernon Clark said in an interview after visiting three of the Fifth Fleet's ships in the gulf, including the aircraft carrier USS Constellation. "Our...