Unsung Heroes: The Other Silent Service
A vague report about a possible attack somewhere in a remote part a
country most folks cannot find on a map may be the only word from the other silent service. For most of its WWII years and beyond, the U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet was known as the silent service
for their ability to seemingly glide right past enemy defenses and
deliver tactical units or observers behind enemy lines. There always
seems to be, in the movies at least, a sub somewhere within responding
distance to help out a stranded James Bond, agent 007 of the MI-5.
Perhaps there-in lay the link between the submarine service and the
clandestine world of field agents, operatives and, our imagination’s
favorite, spies. There is neither glamor nor glitz, as the Ian Fleming portrayals make us believe (or at least hope for). The work of an undercover operative whether it is in a local police department sorting out the drug dealers from the thieves or in the clandestine section of the CIA in some exotic part of the world, such as a back alley, near the dumpster, just past the sanitation station in Tabriz has little need of spare tuxedos with two-way radio cuff links. The most seductive beauty that has passed information to the agent in the last six months is a too soon aged crack addict who has recently contracted head-lice. This is the stuff of which Hollywood blockbusters are made!
Throughout the Iraq wars and continuing in Afghanistan, Iran has aided and abetted our enemies with weapons, training, and personnel and is responsible for the deaths of far too many Americans. But there is an amazing side to this story and that is the taking it back to them and sticking it in their face that our CIA, under General D.H. Petraeus, is accomplishing. Without fanfare and even in the midst of leaks from the Administration that border on treason, the CIA and other U.S. military groups continue to function effectively. Actions, reported to have occurred, include cyber-attacks which sabotaged Iran’s nuclear program and the virus Stuxnet; which according to sources, set Tehran’s nuclear hopes back two years. Sabotage and unclaimed explosions in different parts of the country contiguous to the nuclear research, 17 top Iranian military officials killed, destroyed gas and oil facilities and a plant that makes a special kind of steel used in the centrifuges all have come under special scrutiny by the U.S. and her allies. I have no direct knowledge as to what group, groups, nation or nations orchestrated this on-going special warfare. One Israeli general is quoted as responding, when asked about the source of these complex operations and the damage that has been inflicted, that sometimes there are “things that happen unnaturally.”[i]
We want the silent services to be permitted to remain silent, and wouldn’t now shed light on it except that the light has already been turned on and it is the nay-sayers, the detractors that control the light switch; so it is time some positive light shows through. I, for one, am very thankful for everything that General Petraeus has meant for this country. We are a better people because of him and those he has commanded and now commands. We are a safer people because of him and the men he commanded and now commands. Our gratitude and prayers go with him and with those persons carrying out whatever directives they have received.
[i] Dowd, Alan W. “Shadow War” The American Legion Magazine, July 2012.
