Press covers ceremony honoring death of paid mercenaries, traditional military sacrifice honors ignored
By Fran Zimmerman
Now that Memorial Day 2013 is over, let’s record how the red/blue politics of the day trumped history and tradition and every lemming newspaper in this Navy town went along.
Apparently the Los Angeles Times, U-T San Diego, San Diego Reader and La Jolla Light forgot that San Diego is home to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, final resting place for more than 115,000 servicemembers and their families from all branches of the armed forces and site of the largest Memorial Day commemoration in the city.
Each of those newspapers carried stories with photographs, some prominent on Page One, of ceremonies in La Jolla at the “Mt. Soledad Veterans’ Memorial” underneath the controversial hilltop Christian cross. Not one journal mentioned that the Supreme Court has upheld the U.S. 9th District Court finding that this towering cross represents an illegal and unconstitutional expression of religion in a public place.
And not one mentioned that there is no consecrated ground there.
Did they forget about Fort Rosecrans, opened in 1879, located on the high spine of Pt. Loma with vistas of San Diego Harbor on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other? Where there are some graves on the east side for those who fought in the American Civil War, 150 years ago? Where the place’s namesake is William Starke Rosecrans, a Union general from that terrible conflict?
Where there are graves from the time of the Spanish-American War of 1898 to liberate Cuba from Spain? And graves from all the other wars –World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan?
Sorry guys, they needed to make a political statement. Maybe next year…
How was this possible? I phoned Fort Rosecrans Cemetery to ask if they actually had had Memorial Day services, since there was nothing in the papers other than the one at widely-publicized Mt. Soledad. The man in the office sounded subdued. Oh yes, always, he said, but Mt. Soledad honored the two security contractors — former Navy Seals — who died in the attack last year at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
So this Memorial Day, San Diego’s press noted the death of paid mercenaries, not traditional military sacrifice. And not at observance in our national cemetery, but beneath a Christian cross in the middle of a public park that dates to McCarthy-era Easter sunrise services and that is constantly being embellished by its custodians, the “Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial Association.”
(After a 1989 lawsuit challenged the Cross’ legitimacy, its underlying land was transferred from the City of San Diego to the federal government and U.S. Navy. Architects of that deal were then-Mayor Jerry Sanders, City Council, ex-GOP Congressman Brian Bilbray and late Duncan Hunter, Sr. and Rep. Darryl Issa. Then too was born the “Mt. Soledad Veterans’ Memorial Association” stewards, led by William Kellogg, owner of the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. They have high-fenced the cross, built its circular brick platform and steps as well as plastered walls to hold plaques-for-sale, put in lighting and are working on installation of a sound system which can be used at future events.)
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Every time there’s a court ruling asserting constitutional guarantees in cases like the Soledad cross, Christian sects in this country call the lawyers and find a new way to insist on triumphal displays of Jesus. I doubt they find solace in these insults; more likely they find they can gloat for only a few moments before something like gun control has them tapping their tills again.
Thank you, Fran Zimmerman for pointing out that this time we find them mourning the losses of two people who were making money in North Africa as noncommissioned security people. Private War, Public Patriotism. Great article. We can hope the major dailies and weeklies heard you.
I think the courts have grossly misinterpreted separation of church and state. The Establishment clause states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” I personally do not see how having a cross equates to Congress legislating, i.e. creating a law respecting a certain religion. That said, my opinion doesn’t matter at the end of the day when the courts rule. Those of us that feel the cross is not a violation need to either appeal or respect the courts decision as it is the law of the land, like it or not.
This might be nitpicking but the Spanish American War was not started to liberate Cuba. It was started to show the world that the US was a military power to be reckoned with. The Cuban people wanted liberation from Spain. Which they got only to be subjugated by their new colonial masters, the US and their neocolonial puppets.
We know, Brent. Thanks for sharing. Please don’t obscure the point of this piece with self-described “nitpicking.” Cuba ia a whole different topic for another time.
Addenda to the “Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial” wing-ding last Monday:
there was a Don Bartletti photo in the LA Times of a military “flyover” tribute there.
But I later read that the traditional “flyover” at the U.S. Air Force Academy 2013 Commencement in Colorado was cancelled because of sequester belt-tightening.
Frances, you addenda is inaccurate and very misleading. You unfairly connect the fact that Mt. Soledad had a flyover and the Air Force Academy had to cancel theirs. It is apple and oranges. The Air Force Academy cancelled theirs because of sequester and the fact that it would have been TAXPAYERS dollars paying for it due to the fact they would be using military aircraft. The flyover at Mt. Soledad was done by privately owned planes and privately funded.
I was up at Ft. Rosecrans yesterday – Saturday – June 1st, to visit my husband. I was with two other widows from my support group. What we found at the cemetery was nauseating. The trees on the east side – where our husband’s are interred – were all gone. It looked like the grass hadn’t been watered in months and the brown cast made our visit even more depressing than normal. We frequently go as a group, because we could sit under a tree, enjoying the shade, have a small snack, and tell our spouses what asses they are for leaving us alone. Yesterday – no trees and no shade. (Of course this didn’t stop us from telling our husband’s what we thought – but with the cemetery looking the way it did, there is no doubt in my mind why it wasn’t mentioned in the Memorial Day offerings.
Thanks, Fran Zimmerman. Many things there that needed saying. Over and over.
Concerns raised over story link” target=”_blank”>condition of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
We have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Constitutionally if the cross has to go, so do the two Eruv lines installed in the City right-of-way in La Jolla and the College area. The Eruv lines are almost invisible, were approved by our City Council, and give freedom of movement to San Diegans on the Jewish Sabbath.
Both the Cross and the Eruv lines are installed on public property for religious and spiritual reasons, and provide comfort to many individual citizens. It all good.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2005/may/26/please-mingle-its-eruv/
http://www.adatyeshurun.org/eruv
I guess I finally have a reason to contemptuously mock Judaism. Especially after reading the first link. This is truly one of the most ridiculous things ever. I mean, they can’t just distribute amongst themselves a map, and remember the names of the three streets that border the area? However this was the capper to me:
“Poskim strictly prohibit ball playing by adults on Shabbos, and cite the Talmud Yerushalmi and Medrash Eichah which relate the story of the city of Tur Shimon. This was a city destroyed due to ball playing on Shabbos. Although Tur Shimon was a city full of religious and pious people, the severity of playing ball games on Shabbos led to its destruction.”
So Yahweh will destroy your city because otherwise religious and pious people PLAYED BALL. Other things which assumedly will see your city destroyed include:
” strictly prohibited from using umbrellas, riding bicycles, scooter, skateboards, or roller skates.”
Things which will see your city NOT destroyed:
“baby carriages, strollers, canes, walkers, wheelchairs, food (concerning giving / receiving presents on Shabbos, consult your Rav), handkerchiefs, gloves, rain hats, house keys, a siddur or sefer, medicines.
I understand the concept is “nothing fun” but I don’t get the umbrella thing. You can wear a rain hat but not carry an umbrella. While your fishing line city is destroyed for ball playing.
Oy vey.
While I agree with the anger over lack of coverage for Memorial Day services at Ft. Rosecrans, I don’t quite understand the animosity towards the press for reporting and memorializing the deaths of the two security contractors. They WERE local San Diegans and as was even stated in this very post they were former Navy SEALS, and I consider that different from people off the street who think war looks like a fun and adventurous thing to dab in and sign up with a private company. Whatever prompted them to leave the Navy and sign up with a private company we’ll never know and since they’re gone we’ll probably never know so to me it’s unfair to judge.
As to the cross itself I’m on the fence.
Goatskull,
I have a U.S. Navy retirement. . .two years active duty and 21 years in the reserves.
As to “Whatever prompted them to leave the Navy and sign up with a private company we’ll never know and since they’re gone we’ll probably never know so to me it’s unfair to judge.”
The simple answer is a private contractor security guard makes five times the income of a Navy SEAL.
True about the money thing, but I assume (maybe I’m wrong) that there’s much less job security and probably far less benefits.
Goatskull,
These private contractors, i.e. Blackwater, are taking the military for a clean ride. They are paying some of the “security guards” between $150,000 and $250,000. You can imagine how lucrative their government contracts must be.
“As to the cross, I’m on the fence.” How can you be on the fence when a Christian
(Catholic or Protestant) religious symbol is on government property. Throughout the world, there are no crosses which dominate U.S. military cemeteries. Whether it is Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (Point Loma), all U.S. cemeteries in Europe, the U.S. military cemetery in the Philippines (Manila) and Punchbowl on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, none have any religious symbols. No Buddhist, Hindu or Jew would want a cross on their gravesite, and many Catholics and Protestants have a problem with it.
The simplest remedy would be to cut the arms off the cross. Then the edifice would become a stile. Christians could imagine the stile as a cross and others would see the style as a war memorial.
“These private contractors, i.e. Blackwater, are taking the military for a clean ride. They are paying some of the “security guards” between $150,000 and $250,000. You can imagine how lucrative their government contracts must be.”
Considering the cost of recruiting, basic training, secondary training, then insurance/survivor benefits, then lifetime benefits like VA health care, I’m pretty sure the yearly cost per body deployed of a military soldier is about the same as they pay Blackwater for a hired thug.
Better yet the Blackwater thug probably won’t suffer from a lifetime of PTSD or write bitter letters to the press about how disillusioned he is with the red white and blue after being paralyzed on a minimum wage job.
Not supporting Blackwater here just saying there is rationale for the policy, and the government might just be a little more shrewd than you think.
La Playa Heritage
If you are unable to discern the difference between of a 29 foot concrete religious symbol standing on government property and an eruv, which is made of monofilament fishing line, not standing on anything and cannot be seen from 30 feet away, then you make a good point. Although I cannot speak for persons of the Jewish persuasion, it is my understanding that they wanted their eruv to be invisible so that it could not be seen from miles and miles away.
Frances, not sure why this didn’t hit you on the head like a hammer. If they only focused their reporting on the contractors killed in Benghazi, it figures the editorial decision would be made by a Republican who wanted to bring more attention toward the simmering (or is it brewing?) White House “Scandal” that seems to be the GOP’s only trump card right now.
Hey it’s a big deal, two contractors got killed because this is the worst White House ever in the history of everything, did you forget? They were worried someone might I guess and don’t want the story to die.
(I am critical of the justice dept pulling AP reporter phone records but I hate when either side lights the fire under gov’t employees with this hindsight accountability stuff- in this case the GOP grilling Obama State Dept employees, though we saw the same over WMD and 9/11. Why? Because the only result is that in the future gov’t employees become more focused on covering their asses than doing their jobs right)
John,
Your cost analysis between “a Blackwater thug” and a military soldier is more than fair.
Regarding the DOJ obtaining the telephone numbers ONLY of 20 AP employees and those on the other end, I do not like it or dislike it. If Holder did something which had no basis of fact, President Obama would have insisted on his resignation weeks ago.
The AP whined as they should have but did not put up a battle. If an American organization (AP) which is international, has one or two employees who are leaking classified material about a highly sensitive matter, someone in the DOJ thought it important enough to contact Holder. Even Fox News has stopped talking about the “AP story.”
All of your opinions have been magnificent. I wish there was a way for us to have a phone conversation. There are two important San Diego issues I would like to discuss with you. If you possess creativity and can figure out how we can exchange email addresses or phone numbers in privacy, please advise. Although I have a creative mind, I have been unable to do so.