Military

The Coast Guard Cutter Mellon pulled into Station Juneau Monday morning.

The 378-foot High Endurance cutter is based in Seattle.  Coast Guard Spokesman Kip Wadlow says the Mellow is in Southeast Alaska on a “shakedown cruise” to conduct equipment tests before heading back to homeport.

The ship will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

She’s named after Andrew W. Mellon, who was 49th Secretary of the U.S. Treasury from 1921-1932.

Built in 1966, the Mellon has diesel and gas turbine engines, one of the first cutters to be built with a combined propulsion plant.

Update: Sept. 24, 2013 – 6:17 a.m.

The search for Alan Foster has been called off.

Original Story: Sept. 17, 2013 – 12:54 p.m.

The search is still underway for an Alaska pilot and small plane missing for the last eight days.

A single Civil Air Patrol aircraft started searching on Tuesday in an area north and west of Yakutat.

Five other CAP aircraft currently positioned in Cordova and an Alaska Air National Guard C-130 are taking a break for routine maintenance and crew rest.

“We’re also kind of waiting on the weather to clear up,” said Alaska National Guard spokesman Lt. Bernie Kale.

All of the aircraft are expected to return to the air on Wednesday.

Kale said there has been no discussion about suspending the search.

CAP aircraft have done grid searches while the C-130 has focused on high-altitude searches over steep terrain.

So, all the way to Whittier and then west of Yakutat. We have done searches from the last known point and we’ve spread out since then to cover a very wide area since there was no ELT or GPS coordinates of the aircraft.”

No physical objects have been found yet, but electronic signals were detected on Friday. Kale says the origin or location of the signals could not be determined by the C-130 crew.

47-year old Alan Foster of Eagle River and his single-engine Piper PA-32 disappeared on the afternoon of Sept. 9th after departing Yakutat. He was headed to Merrill Field in Anchorage.

A small group of Juneau citizens added their voice this weekend to the growing number of anti-war rallies being held around the country.

The march along Egan Drive to Marine Park attracted the horns of motorists, perhaps agreeing the U.S. should stay out of the Syrian war.

Organized by Juneau People for Peace and Justice, and Veterans for Peace, about 30 people rallied at the waterfront, drawing a few tourists who listened to the speeches and joined in the peace songs.

A young Muslim girl wearing  a traditional hijab, held a sign stating No More Vietnams, Iraqs, Afghanistans – and no Syria.   

Maha Abdulrazzaq  is an exchange student from Yemen.  She has been in Juneau just a month and is a junior at Thunder Mountain High School.

She said she’s glad to find the people she’s met so far do not fit the Middle East stereotype of Americans.

“I’m really happy that people here care about the Middle East, about Syria, about Muslim people, about the Arab people,” she said. “Many people in Yemen and the Middle East they think  that American people hate Arab and the Muslim people, but that’s not true.”

Abdulrazzaq is living with Suzanne Haight, who carried a War is Not the Answer sign.  Like most at Saturday’s gathering, Haight has been to other Juneau peace rallies.  But there have been few since Barack Obama was elected president.

President Obama’s threat of U.S.-led intervention into the Syrian civil war has invigorated the peace movement.  Before the talk of a diplomatic solution tabled the threat last week, it was clear most Americans opposed the prospect of another war, even if it was in response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons.

Alaska’s congressional delegation members have received thousands of constituent comments against involvement in Syria, and for the most part have listened.

The Juneau peace marchers acknowledged that.

“We’re not here just to demonstrate our opposition to bombing Syria, we’re here to thank a few people,” said Rich Moniak, who’s been actively demonstrating for peace since 2005.

“We’re here to thank Don Young for standing up against this action. We’re here to thank Mark Begich for putting enough conditions on what it would take for him to vote for an act of war. And even though Lisa Murkowski is on the fence, her hesitation also contributed to slowing down the war-making machine,” Moniak said.

Juneau Rep. Beth Kerttula has joined a number of capital city peace rallies over the years.  But this time, she admitted, the atrocity of chemical weapons caused her to pause before accepting an invitation to speak at the rally. Then she thought, “you have to be against aggression, you have to be against war, no matter why the cause.”

She quoted Mahatma Ghandi.

“‘What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism  or the holy name of liberty  and democracy.'”

Kerttula continued:  “That says it to me.  You know if we go and kill innocent people it’s not going to matter if we did it for the right cause.”

The United States and Russia on Saturday reached an agreement on a plan to remove or destroy Syrian chemical weapons.   But U.S. officials said the possibility of military force against Syria remains.

Juneau paused with the rest of America Wednesday to remember those who died or were forever changed from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

The commemoration is now called Patriots Day.  Juneau’s memorial is hosted by local Rotary clubs at the park they built in the Mendenhall Valley.

Police officers, firefighters and paramedics, National Guardsmen, U.S. Coast Guard and other first responders were greeted by a crowd that included a number of Thunder Mountain High School students.  They were toddlers 12 years ago and know little about the events of that day.

It was the first time sophomores Shane Mielke and Jamie Yaletchko  have attended the memorial.

Mielke said 9/11 meant “help” to him, referring to  first responders. Yaletcho had seen a movie about 9/11.

“I watched the movie and thought it was really cool and then I thought it’d be cool to come and see and hear them talk about it,” she said.

But most at the ceremony remembered the day well and the impact it had.

Ed Quinto is an assistant chief for Capital City Fire and Rescue. He told the crowd that 9/11 will always be etched in America’s heart.

“We must never forget the 343 firefighters and 60 fallen law enforcement officers. Never forget the sacrifices that were made that day, the courage of the firefighters and law enforcement offers who rushed into the burning buildings to save thousands of others.”

After the ceremony a large group of Juneau police officers lined up for a photo.  A number of them were on the force 12 years ago, including Lt. Dave Campbell.  His first stop that day was Juneau International Airport, which had been shut down like all U.S. airports.

“We didn’t know what the scope of the attacks were on the morning of 911, so when I started at 6:30 (a.m.)  the airport got shutdown, and we made sure we had a presence at the schools just to kind of reassure people and make sure we had a presence at places that might be considered targets,” Campbell said. 

Twelve years later, Campbell said he finds encouragement from the day as he reflects on the way America and its communities like Juneau came together.

The September 11^th memorial at Rotary Park is constructed of concrete and Pennsylvania marble in the shape of a broken pentagon. Each side is four feet in length to represent the four high-jacked airplanes that crashed into the Pentagon, the New York City World Trade Center and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  Nearly 3-thousand people died that day.

 

Alaska’s junior senator says he’s likely a “no vote” on a resolution to authorize a military strike in Syria.

Democratic Sen. Mark Begich says he doesn’t support President Obama’s version because it was too broad, and had serious reservations about the version the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced to the full Senate on Wednesday.

He made the comments from Washington, D.C., during a telephone townhall meeting with constituents on Thursday evening.

Begich said he has four unsatisfied criteria. First, he said the response to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s violation of an international chemical weapons ban must be an international effort that includes Russia and China.

Second, “No boots on the ground, whatsoever, of any kind.”

Third, the military strikes must be paid for without stripping down “important, needed services.”

Finally, he must have an understanding of the “real game plan” and the end game.

Begich said it was unlikely his criteria would be met.

“I know what some will say,” he said. “Well, I put too high a standard — that means I’ll probably be a ‘no.’ Well, these are the standards when you’re putting American lives on the line that we should have. So that’s where I’m at on this, they got a lot to still prove to me.”

Republican Rep. Don Young has said he’s opposed to any U.S. military intervention in Syria. And Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski has said she is “wary” of intervention, but is soliciting constituent input on the topic.

The full Senate is expected to take up the resolution next week.

The United States Sixth Fleet is sailing in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Fifth Fleet is in nearby Bahrain. The Pentagon is mobilizing forces for long-range bombings or cruise missile strikes.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday the U.S. government is holding the government of Bashar al-Assad responsible for the chemical attack last week.

“The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children, and innocent bystanders by chemical weddings, is a moral obscenity,” he said in the State Department briefing room. “By any standard it is inexcusable, and despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable.”

President Barack Obama has long said a chemical attack would be a red line. This is reportedly the second such attack, but much larger than the previous.

U.S. Senator Mark Begich said he’s skeptical of engaging.

“They cannot go down this path without consultation and engagement with the Congress,” he said Tuesday on the public radio program “Talk of Alaska.”

But that may happen. Strikes could begin any day – and Congress is not due back in Washington until September 9th. Begich said he can’t support the actions if the United States acts alone.

British and French leaders have indicated they’re willing to support the military strikes.

“It can’t be the U.S. carrying the weight of the world all the time. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and others in that region need to step up to the plate,” Begich said. “It means other countries around the globe, and this includes people like Russia and China, they need to step up, and quit playing the politics of the Middle East for leverage for their own political and economic purposes.”

Russia and China will not side with the United States in the conflict. Russia has proven to be Syria’s largest backer. Both Moscow and Beijing are protecting Damascus on the United Nations Security Council.

Neither of the Republicans in the delegation would talk about the issue. A spokesman for Representative Don Young said he’s opposed to military intervention – that the country isn’t ready for another war after fighting two for a dozen years. He also wants the president to seek approval from Congress. Young voted for the 2002 Iraq War Resolution.

Senator Lisa Murkowski declined several requests for comment.