New Diplomatic Initiatives with Tripoli

New Diplomatic Initiatives with Tripoli

As usual, in this repatriation business, things move slow, sometimes for years, even decades, and then there is a little something that changes the ballance and all of other things begin to happen, and then the domino effect goes into action.

I don't know if we've reached a similar point yet, but the most recent diplomatic initiatives seem to indicate that things are progressing normally on the diplomatic front, but once the total deal is cemented in stone, things will begin to move along again and maybe history will happen.

In the meantime, the law that has been meandering its way through Congress has finally been sealed with a deal, announced in DC and celebrated with a news conference and a Washington Reception, and a rise in the anticipation of the US ambassador to Libya being officially acknowledged by all parties.

That means thatGene Cretz, our new ambassador to Tripoli, will be able to broach the subject of the eventual indentification, securing the grounds, excavation and repatriation of the remains of the INTREPID heroes.

Of course this should have been the first priority of our representatives negotiating with the Lybians, but oil deals, untieing knots of related foreign subplots, and the renumeration of victims of terrorits attacks came first. But now that they're out of the way, it's time to properly locate the grave sites, securing them, properly excavating the remains, indentifying them and return them home.

The Senator most involved in the negotions, my own representative Sen. Frank Lautenberg (Dem. NJ), has not yet taken the same initiatives to repatriate the crew of the Intrepid as he did for the families of the Pan Am victims. He probably doesn't even know anything about Richard Somers.

If he has not yet been properly briefed on this subject, I would hope that some fellow vets or CongressmanFrank LoBiondo (R. N. J.) will inform him, though the political overtones are running deep even though this is suppose to be a Non-partisan, let alone a bi-partisan issue.

In the meantime, Col. David Jesmer, Jr. (Ret.) recently published an article on the efforts of the new US Embassy personell to clean up the Cemetery grave site and begin negotiations to take over responsibility for its upkeep, and possibly assume ownership of the property.

Col. Carnahan, our man in boots on the ground in Tripoli has even suggested that the Cemetery site become a tourist attraction, as it already is probably the site most visited by American other than the ancient ruins.

Now it is time to secure the original grave site in the park next to the old castle fort, and archelogically excavate the remains there and bring them home.

And many thanks to Col. Kyle and his company for all they are doing.

BK

(U) USDAO Tripoli Honors Fallen Sailors

By COL David Jesmer Jr. (Ret.)

DI/MNA-1

(U) When LTC Robert “Kyle” Carnahan arrived in Tripoli, Libya, in March 2006, he had no way of knowing that he would be handed an opportunity to honor U.S. military heroes for their sacrifices on the shores of Tripoli two centuries earlier.

(U) The Department of State opened a liaison office in 2004 shortly after diplomatic relations were re-established with Libya. Newly hired Libyan guards told the regional security officer Dan Mehan about a run-down cemetery known locally as the “American Cemetery.” Curious, Mehan visited the site and found an overgrown cemetery in disrepair containing among the graves a tombstone claiming to hold the remains of “an American sailor who gave his life in the explosion of the United States Ship Intrepid in Tripoli Harbour, September 4, 1804.” Unable to do anything else at the time, Mehan locked the gate to the cemetery to keep out vandals.

(U) Shortly after Carnahan arrived as the new defense attaché, Mehan showed him the site. Carnahan promptly arranged to meet with the Libyan chairman of the Department of Archaeology Dr. Giuma Anag and hoped to obtain permission to clean the site and gain official control of the cemetery for the U.S. government. Anag confirmed that five graves contained the remains of five to nine American sailors who had washed ashore following the premature explosion of the USS Intrepid in the Tripoli harbor during the First Barbary War in 1804.

(U) Anag explained that the remains were disinterred during the late 19^th century by Italian workers who were building a coastal road. The Italians reburied the remains in a local Protestant cemetery instead of the Italian Catholic cemetery, presuming that the American sailors from that period were likely Protestant. Although there are five marked graves, there is confusion about the exact number of Americans who were buried there as early reports claim that the graves contain more than one set of remains.

(U) Carnahan and Operations Coordinator CWO Ernest Brown cleaned up the cemetery and arranged for a Memorial Day ceremony in 2006, and again in 2007, to honor the Americans. Carnahan continued to research the history of the graves and has requested support from the Marine Corps and Navy. The Marine Corps provided a report from 1955 that concluded the remains were not of Marines, though several Marines died during the First Barbary War. The report also indicated that U.S. service members stationed at nearby Wheelus Air Force Base, which closed following Muammar Gadaffi’s coup in 1969, used to care for the cemetery, and delegations from U.S. ships visits routinely paid their respects. This lead to the conclusion that the neglect had occurred only during the past four decades.

(U) A. U.S. Naval Forces Europe delegation plans to conduct a survey of the cemetery and discuss with Anag how best to preserve the site. One wall is slowly crumbling from erosion despite the efforts of the U.S. Defense Attache Office. Carnahan hopes that the cemetery will one day become a tourist location in Tripoli for Americans wishing to pay their respects, and a place where they can learn more about the United States’ first military conflict abroad.

September 2008

UNCLASSIFIED

InterCOMM

News for the DIA Community

Issue 35-08

Bill Kelly can be reached at Billkelly3@gmail.com