Many will disapprove of Waddle decision
Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Thomas Fargo has made the right decision to allow the former skipper of the USS Greeneville to resign from the Navy without a court-martial.
It tempers justice with mercy and is clearly an attempt at moderation.
But however just the decision, it won't be satisfactory from the perspective of several of the most interested parties.
Consider these divergent points of view:
• For laymen such as ourselves, the sinking of the Ehime Maru by the Greeneville seems a tragic accident, no doubt the result of at least some haste and negligence. But it was clearly free of any malicious intent. When does an accident take on the proportions of criminality? We tend to compare it with more familiar examples, such as traffic accidents, and come off feeling that the abrupt end of Waddle's promising career is punishment enough.
• For the morale of the Navy, many in the ranks may feel that, had he been charged with a crime, Cmdr. Scott Waddle would have been a sacrificial lamb to political considerations involving Japan.
• For the professionalism of the Navy, there are observers who feel that failure to court-martial Waddle marks a slackening in the Navy's expectations of its commanders. The last U.S. skipper to be court-martialed for his actions at sea was the commander of the USS Belknap, which in 1976 collided with a U.S. aircraft carrier killing eight people.
Although he was acquitted, the man who commanded the carrier at the time says today that not to court-martial Waddle "would be like a parking ticket, totally irrelevant and insignificant."
• For the families of the Japanese crewmen lost in the sinking, Fargo's decision is flatly unacceptable. While Japanese demands for court-martial are in part fueled by anti-American political sentiment, they do capture sincere emotion. But some Americans have detected a note of hypocrisy in the demands of the Japanese families, pointing out that their nation has yet to adequately apologize for any number of World War II atrocities.
These Americans may be comparing apples and oranges, however.
The Japanese might point to a strikingly similar case of their own. In 1988, the Japanese submarine Nadashio rammed and sank a Japanese fishing boat in Tokyo Bay, killing 30 civilians. The skipper of that sub was eventually tried and found guilty of interference of sea traffic and professional negligence and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. The captain of the fishing boat was also found partially responsible for the accident and was also sentenced to prison.
Both sentences were suspended, but the fact remains that the Japanese obtained a criminal conviction in a remarkably similar incident. This puts them on solid ground in demanding to know why Waddle and his officers will face what appears to be a lesser fate.
Both Waddle and Fargo may travel to Japan to apologize for the incident and explain the decision not to court-martial, and the Navy is attempting to compensate the families.
But ultimately, Japan's unhappiness with the resolution of this matter is a question U.S. diplomats will have to deal with. They must find a way to keep this tragedy from long-term disruption of this vital bilateral relationship.
In the meantime, the Navy will reportedly conduct a full-scale review of the distinguished visitor program, which put 16 civilians aboard the Greeneville that day and, in effect, was the reason the sub was at sea.
This review is warranted. While nothing can ever reclaim the lives of those lost on the Ehime Maru, it is crucial that the Navy do everything within its power to ensure that such a terrible accident will not happen again.
