DSA: Foreign Policy

Where Thriving Communities concerned itself with domestic policy, the DSA also has plans on how to handle international relations.  Let's return to the DSA website.

Working-Class Foreign Policy

End the U.S. War Machine: Defund the Department of War. End all foreign wars and close overseas military bases. Support and fully employ veterans. End immunity for U.S. war criminals and support the International Criminal Court's mandate to prosecute war crimes.

This is a prescription for national suicide.  How does the US defend itself without a military?  Who will fill the vacuum left by a US withdrawal from all overseas bases and a dismantling of the US Navy?  Who will determine which Americans are war criminals that need to be prosecuted in the ICC?  A call for unilateral disarmament is an invitation for hostile nations to invade.

Free Palestine: Recognize the rights of the Palestinian people, including the right of return, the right to resist military occupation, and the right to self determination in a free Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. End all military and economic aid to Israel. Prosecute U.S. and Israeli leaders responsible for the genocide in Gaza.

Why doesn't anyone call for Free Tibet?  Or how about Free Kurdistan?  Free East Oregon?  No, it is always about the Palestinians.  Where Tibet is under the thumb of China, Kurdistan is dominated by Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, and East Oregon is oppressed by Salem, it is the Jews who are blamed for Palestine.  Yes, those rascally Israelis are uniquely evil and require a statement in DSA foreign policy.  Nevermind that the Palestinians always start the wars which result in the Israelis implementing defensive measures that further restrict the Palestinians.  Basically, until Israel is eliminated, Palestine is not free.  Understand that and you understand the whole Israel-Palestine conflict.  DSA wants the destruction of Israel.

End Blockades, Embargoes, and Sanctions: People around the world deserve to live their lives without U.S. interference. End economic warfare against countries whose governments act independently of the United States, such as Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran.

Stop making life difficult for those who hate us and wish our destruction.  Yes, what an obvious plan.  Let's make nice with communist Cuba (clearly, DSA is sympathetic to communists), ease up on narco-state Venezuela, and let the Mullahs of Iran resume their title of leading state sponsor of terrorism.  We've gotten rid of the military, so let's also get rid of our economic tools for fighting hostile powers.  Can't wait for those Iranian missiles to get installed in Cuba.  This time, there will be no missile crisis because we have ended blockading and defunded the navy that would implement the blockade.  I'm sure it will be fine.

Abolish ICE: End ICE detention and deportations and punish federal agents' brutality. Legalize migration, grant amnesty for all immigrants regardless of status, provide a path to citizenship for all permanent residents, and end visa caps and quotas.

Throw open the borders!  Let everyone in and grant them amnesty.  A country without borders soon ceases to be a country.  Combined with the policies outlined in Thriving Communities, the US - which is already under heavy financial strain - will be bankrupt in months.  If it survives that long.  With the borders open and the military defunded, what is to stop a flood of hostiles from sweeping into the country?

Are there people who are stupid enough to believe this?  Apparently there are.  This proposed DSA Utopia would quickly devolve into a hellscape.  It must be remembered that Lenin spoke of useful idiots, people who believed the Utopian pap he spouted and supported his overthrow of Russia.  After their usefulness was at an end, firing squads can eliminate them.  The DSA playbook is an old one.

Surfboats and Horse Marines

U.S Naval Operations in the Mexican War, 1846-48

K Jack Bauer, who wrote an overview of the Mexican War, focuses on the US Navy in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Pacific coast.  The first half of the book details the actions of the Gulf Squadron while the second covers the operations along the California coast, Baja California, and the west coast of Mexico.  In each theater, Bauer discusses and critiques the commanding commodore.

Commodore David Conner was commanding the Home Squadron at the outbreak of the war.  Conner directed operation in the gulf from the start of the war - May 1846 - until the Siege of Veracruz - March 1847.  With his limited fleet, Conner maintained a blockade of the major ports along the gulf coast of Mexico.  As Mexico didn't have a navy, ship to ship action was limited to capturing trade vessels.  He successfully captured and occupied the port of Tampico (Nov 1846) and made a couple of abortive attempts on Alvarado.  When General Winfield Scott arrived, Conner worked hand in glove with him on the landings at Veracruz and provided naval support for the siege of that city.  Conner was replaced in command during the siege.

Commodore Matthew Perry, younger brother of the famous Oliver Hazzard Perry, arrived in the gulf as second in command and eventual successor to Commodore Conner.  Perry was much more energetic than Conner, leading the smaller vessels in the fleet upriver to capture lesser ports.  Though Perry proved to be more active, he suffered the same limits that had hamstrung Conner: not enough ships and men.  When illness swept his fleet and Winfield Scott borrowed 500 Marines for his attack on Mexico City, Perry's operations ground to a halt.  Plans for a joint operation with the army to cross the Tehuantepec Isthmus to the Pacific were canceled.  With the capture of Mexico City, Perry's operations in the gulf shifted to maintaining the blockade until the war concluded.

Commodore John Sloat commanded the Pacific Squadron when the war began.  However, he was uncertain that it had actually begun and feared repeating the error of Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones.  In 1842, Jones mistakenly believed a war had been declared with Mexico and thus captured Monterey, California.  The overcautious Sloat waited until July 1846.  Before the month was out, Sloat's replacement arrived on the scene and took over.

Commodore Robert "Fighting Bob" Stockton was a man of action.  Stockton intended to control the coast from San Francisco to Acapulco.  He teamed with Captain John C Fremont to capture California, which was accomplished in short order.  Leaving entirely inadequate forces to hold California, Stockton prepared to repeat his success in Baja California and the west coast of Mexico.  Then the Californios rebelled and he was forced to reconquer California with the help of a newly arrived General Stephen Watts Kearney.  In January of 1847, California was once again conquered and Stockton's replacement arrived.

Commodore William Shubrick gladly handed California to General Kearney to manage and turned his attention to blockading Mexico's Pacific coast.  Like Conner in the gulf, he was a competent commander who lacked the resources for extensive actions.  Additionally, only a month after he had taken command, Commodore James Biddle sailed into the theater; he was senior to Shubrick and thus took command.  However, when Biddle sailed away in July, Shubrick once again controlled the Pacific Squadron and made active use of the fleet, in actions throughout the Gulf of California and seizing Mazatlan.

Commodore Thomas ap Catsby Jones assumed command of the Pacific Squadron in May of 1848.  The war was over though the withdrawal was still underway.  The Treaty was ratified at the end of May and US troops withdrew both on the gulf coast and along the west coast.  Jones merely maintained Shubrick's accomplishments and oversaw the evacuation of American forces.  The last troops left La Paz, Baja California, on September 6, 1848.

This is a terrific book with extensive appendices.  Bauer changed my opinion of some of these officers, most especially Stockton.  I'd always liked Stockton as a man of action after Sloat, who seemed afraid of his own shadow.  However, Stockton was reckless and something of a jerk.  Likewise, Perry was clearly competent and aggressive, but he too proved to be a jerk.  Shubrick and Conner were the best of the bunch.

Highly recommended.

USS Cyane: Workhorse of the Pacific Squadron

The USS Cyane was a 22-gun sloop-of-war with a complement of 200 crew that joined the US Navy in May 1838.  In 1845, the Cyane was dispatched to the Pacific Squadron.  At the time, this was a monumental voyage around South America.  It was not until January 1846 that she arrived at Mazatlan.  In February, Lt. Archibald Gillespie of the US Marines came aboard; he had secret messages to deliver to Commodore Sloat, US Consul Thomas O. Larkin, and John C. Fremont.  The Cyane departed Mazatlan and sailed to Monterey, California, by way of the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands.  Gillespie was left in Monterey in April.  By the end of the month, the Cyane was back in Mazatlan where it found an English rear admiral commanding a line-of-battle-ship and two additional ships of the British fleet.  Were the British keeping tabs on the Americans in this tense period between Mexico and the United States?

The Cyane again set out for Monterey in May and arrived in June.  On the 2nd of July, Commodore Sloat arrived on the flagship Savannah, a 54-gun frigate with a complement of 480 men.  Sloat had received word of the battles in Texas but dallied.  Finally, on July 7th, he ordered the capture of Monterey, the capital of Alta California.  Captain Mervine of the Cyane led the landing party that raised the US Flag over California.  The Pacific Squadron was officially in the war.

On July 14th, the USS Congress arrived in Monterey with Commodore Robert 'Fighting Bob' Stockton.  He replaced Commodore Sloat in command of the Pacific Squadron.  The following day, the HMS Collingwood, an 80-gun ship-of-the-line, arrived in Monterey.   Would the American capture of California have been so easy if the Collingwood had arrived a week earlier?

Captain Mervine was transferred to the Savannah and Captain Samuel Du Pont took command of the Cyane.  The Cyane also took aboard Lt. Col. John C. Fremont's California Battalion, providing transport to San Diego.  The Cyane captured a Mexican brig, the Juanita, before it could leave the harbor.  Fremont was let off at San Diego where that port was captured with similar efficiency as Monterey.  Alta California apparently settled, the Cyane set out for a cruise along the west coast of Mexico.

In August, she captured the Primavera.  In September, she blockaded the port of San Blas where she captured two additional ships: Solita and Susana.  Crossing to Baja California and the port of La Paz, the Cyane took control of 7 ships from the harbor, including the Baltimore-built Julia.  The Julia was quickly added to the Pacific Squadron.  Sailing further into the Gulf of California, she captured the Libertad and the Fortuna on the 1st of October.  The following day, she seized the Rosita.  Two days later, she captured the Chapita and the Alerto.  A raid on Guaymas destroyed three additional ships.

In November, the Cyane blockaded Mazatlan, but the ship ran out of supplies.  As the US had no Pacific ports, it depended on friendly ports or supply ships.  Sailing north once again, the Cyane found orders in San Francisco to join the squadron in retaking California; there had been a rebellion during the Cyane's absence.

In January 1847, she provided men for the recapture of Los Angeles, joining in the Battles of San Gabriel (Jan 8) and La Mesa (Jan 9).  Los Angeles was occupied the following day.  But the Cyane was not done with the war yet.

The Pacific Squadron had other duties than just the war and the Cyane went looking for pirates and protecting the US whaling fleet.  In November 1847, the Cyane joined the Congress and the Independence in the capture of Mazatlan.

The Cyane's final operation during the war was to relieve the siege at San Jose del Cabo (Baja California) in February 1848.  The Cyane remained in the region, relocating to Mazatlan.  On June 7th, while at the port of San Blas, the ship recieved word that the peace treaty was signed and the war was over.

No other ship in the US fleet on either coast saw so much action as the USS Cyane.  The ship remained active on the coasts of North and South America until she was decommissioned in 1871.

Lt. Charles Hunter: Court Martial!

General Quitman had marched his brigade through unpleasant terrain to achieve a joint capture of Alvarado with the Navy under Commodore Perry.  However, upon arriving at the outskirts of Alvarado, he was startled to find the stars and stripes flying over the fortress.  In fact, the city was already captured and Quitman's march had been for naught.

With the fall of Vera Cruz, the troops at Alvarado had foreseen an inevitable loss to an American assault.  If Vera Cruz had fallen, Alvarado was doomed.  The garrison had marched away as soon as an American ship was spotted off the coast, evacuating with whatever war material it could.

For having captured 4 Mexican ships and captured two Mexican towns, Lt. Charles Hunter was court martialed.  He had arrived in the theater less than a week prior.  The charges pressed against him were 1) Treating with contempt his superior, and 2) disobedience of orders.  On the first, he had captured Alvarado without the authority to do so, he had captured Tlacotalpan without authority, and finally he had captured and burned a ship without authority.  On the second, he had been ordered to report to Captain Breese and assist in the blockade, not enter the harbor to capture the town.  Lastly, he failed to report in person to Commodore Perry at 10 AM.

Hunter's defense to the charges was that he had little choice.  When the enemy offers a white flag, what was he supposed to do?  Decline to accept the surrender?  When news of escaping ships came his way and he was not in immediate contact with his superior, what should he do?  Let them go?  Regarding the grounded ship, should he have left the cargo for the enemy to salvage?  When he arrived at Tlacolplan, should he have left the enemy ships at the port and declined the surrender of this town?  As for being late, he admitted to forgetting the appointment.

The findings were that he was guilty on both counts though not all the specifics.  He was therefore reprimanded and dismissed from the theater.  For an ambitious officer, this was a heavy blow.  Promotion and advancement, glory and distinction were won during conflicts.  He was sent back to the US to find out what would become of his career.

Though his immediate commanders did not appreciate his energy and flouting of command, the American public was more forgiving.  He was greeted as the hero of the hour in New York and presented a sword.  He gained the name of "Alvarado" Hunter.  In August 1847, he was given command of the schooner Taney and sent to the Mediterranean.

Lt. Charles Hunter: Scourge of Alvarado

As the Mexican-American War was underway, the US Navy needed more ships.  It purchased the USS Bangor and rechristened it as the USS Scourge, a gunboat.  Lt. Charles Hunter, then 37 years-old, was given command and sent to join the fleet in the Gulf of Mexico.  He arrived on station on the day that Veracruz had surrendered.  He reported to Commadore Matthew Perry, who had recently taken over from Commadore Conner.

Commadore Perry had been serving as second in command for several months.  Now that Veracruz was secured, he had plans to capture less important ports, most notably Alvarado.  The US Navy had already made two efforts to capture the well-fortified port but had to retreat each time.  He had consulted with General Winfield Scott about a joint operation to capture Alvarado.  It was only a 30-mile march from Veracruz.  Scott agreed and allocated General Quitman's brigade to help capture Alvarado.  With this in mind, Perry ordered Lt. Hunter to Alvarado where he was to report to Captain Breese of the Albany.  There, he would maintain the blockade of that port.  Lt. Hunter eagerly set out.

The Scourge was a steamer with only 3 guns and 50 men.  Arriving at Alvarado, Hunter saw no sign of the Albany.  The Albany was a sloop-of-war, having only sails for propulsion.  The wind along the gulf coast had presented difficulties for staying on station.  Certain that the Albany would appear in a day or two, the Scourge took up a position off the coast and fired at the fort.  The following day, he resumed his bombardment only to have the fort surrender!  Both pleased and astonished, he navigated into the port and demanded that Alvarado surrender.  The city complied immediately.  One of Hunter's crew was fluent in Spanish and learned that the garrison had fled after the bombardment, departing with several ships as well as military equipment.  Hunter left a midshipman and several sailors to hold the fort at Alvarado and immediately steamed upriver.

Shortly, he caught one of the ships.  It had run aground.  Viewing it as not worthy of salvage but also not wanting it left to the enemy, he set it ablaze.  Continuing his cruise, he captured 3 ships and secured the surrender of Tlacotalpan, a town on the Papaloapan River.  He put prize crews on the captured ships and returned to Alvarado.

When Commadore Perry received word of Lt. Hunter's exploits, he decided how to proceed in a snap.  Here was a man who had accomplished with one small ship what the whole fleet had failed to do on two previous occasions.  Clearly, this called for a court-martial!