Tie A Yellow Ribbon

by: Jenni Vinson
April 9, 2001

The 24 American service men and women who had to land on China’s Hainan Island are not being called hostages. America has been careful not to use such language, but, they are being held against their will. They are being interrogated and it has been on going for seven days now. They ARE hostages.

America flies reconnaisance ann surveillance, or fact find finding missions all the time and so do other countries. China does it all the time.

The American pilots had reported that the Chinese pilots were known to “hotdog” or fly erratically around them often manuevering their aircrafts in stunts around ours. Our pilots had similar problems with the Russians, but that the Chinese pilots are simply not as skilled as the Russians.

Our service men and women were flying the EP-3R Aires II aircraft. There are only a dozen of this plane in operation. It has the capability of intercepting radar and communications up to 460 miles away. It is a bulky, huge aircraft, not at all stealth or sleek nor is it easy to manuever like the fighter planes the Chinese pilots were flying on the day of the accident. He went too far this time and his plane collided with ours. At the time, the EP-3R Aires II was well within International airpspace. It was the accident that caused them to have to search for a viable place to land in a MAYDAY situation. They alerted the Chinese officials that they had an emergancy and they landed on the Chinese Island.

Wang Wei had to eject from his plane and he has not been located. I certainly do wish him God’s safety and a speedy return to his family.

The Chinese argue that they are entitled to hold these service men and women and to take possession of the aircraft because they were spying. It is a ridiculous argument. Spying is done covertly as as not to be seen. This huge, bulky, non-stealth aircraft was overt, out in plain sight. It was definitely in plain sight to Wang Wei and the other pilots who flew around them.

Frankly, the Chinese are using this incident as payback time. They never really got over the accidental bombing of their Embassy during the Serbian conflict. Nor are they happy that we have exposed their own espionage and theft of our highest military secrets through Wen Ho Lee of the Los Alamos labs.

It is being reported that China gained 35 years of our military development and expertise over the past 7 years. Now there is a chapter or two for the Bill Clinton legacy. China has been very isolationist. Clinton viewed them as a resource-- cheap labor for manufacturing products since there are so many of them.

Clinton wanted to be the president that reigned in China; that brought China into the fold with the rest of the nations on the planet. He did manage to help them establish Most Favorite Nation status which allows China to trade and be traded with. This had been withheld from China in the past because they perform atrocious human rights violations on their people.

The Clinton Administartion argued that human rights is one thing, but business is quite another. So we agreed to marry in to a relationship with a government that promotes the killing of female babies, who forces women into abortion to keep to a One Child policy, who murdered dissenters at Tiannamen Square, who refuse to allow for religous freedom and murder those who express a belief, who oppress their own people.

I have always contended that if a nation can treat it’s OWN people badly, the rest of us do not stand a chance and we really do not have any business in attempting to deal with such a government. We would have to rely on such concepts as fairness, honesty, reliabilty and trust in order to successfully conduct business. These words do not always translate well in Chinese.

The Chinese do not seem to understand how much the world has changed during the time they sealed the rest of the planet away. This and the fact that they are fiercly patriotic and tend to operate as one, for the good of the country-- makes them dangerous and our government is correct in being careful in their requests.

Our government is refusing to apologize for this accident. They are correct in doing so. The Chinese pilot is to blame and as a representative of his government, China is to blame. They should be apologizing for the accident and for the horrid manner in which they have behaved . They are holding our people hostage and they are stripping the EP-3R Aires II aircraft.

While the technology housed within the EP-3R Aires II is important and we would certainly hate to lose it to the Chinese, the most valuable cargo aboard that aircraft that we need to be concerned about is:

Navy- Ensign Richard Bensing, Brandon, Fla, Aviation Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class Steven Blocher, Charlotte, NC, Cryptologic Technician Seaman Bradford Borland (home not listed), Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class David Cecka, Leavenworth, Wash., Lt. John Comerford, Palo Verdes Estates, Ca., Cryptologic Technician Operator 1st Class Shawn Coursen, Valdosta, Ga., Cryptologic Technician Collection Seaman Jeremy Crandall, Poplar Grove, Ill., Cryptologic Technician Interpretive 1st Class Josef Edmunds, Davis, Ca., Cryptologic Technician Interpretive 2nd Class Brandon Funk, Showlow, Az., Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class Scott Guidry,Satellite Beach, Fla., Cryptologic Technician 2nd Class Jason Hunter, Billings,Mont., Lt Patrick Homeck, La Mesa, Ca., Lt. Regina Kauffman, Warminster, Pa., Aviation Machinist’s Mate Senior Chief Nicholas Mellows, Ypsilanti, Mich., Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class Ramon Mercado, Moreno Valley, Ca., Lt. Shane Osborne, Norfolk, Neb., Lt. Richard Payne (home not listed), Cryptologic Technician 2nd Class Kenneth Richter, Staten Island, N.Y., Lt. Marcia Sonon, Lenharstville, Pa., Aviation Machinist 2nd Class Wendy Westbrook, Rock Creek, OH, Cryptologic Technician 3rd Class Rodney Young, Katy, Tx., Marine Corp- Sgt. Richard Pray, Geneso, Ill. Air Force- Senior Airman Curtis Towne, Hayward, Ca.

Imagine being the husband/wife or parents of one on this list. May God Bless them and keep them and may they return home safely and quickly. Tie a yellow ribbon to a tree or your car’s attenae and let that ribbon remind you to pray for them now that you know them by name.