TV coverage has been mostly of the skies over Baghdad and the troop

movements at the Kuwait-Iraq border. Let’s not forget that thousands of our

servicepeople are on ships at sea, and just as much in danger as anyone else

now that hostilities have begun. Modern anti-ship technology is very

lethal, as the British discovered in the Falklands War. I believe modern

antimissile technology is a match for it, but nasty things can still

happen. For an adversary like Saddam Hussein, with almost no air force and

no hope of a victory on land, our ships at sea are tempting targets. Since

I know that the NRO readership includes many ministers of religion, I

suggest William Whiting’s wonderful old hymn “Eternal Father, strong to

save” for coming services–a.k.a. “The Navy Hymn.”