The Navy risks sailors with port calls in Turkey

A Turkish mob in Izmir on Monday attacked an American sailor attached to the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp while the ship was on a scheduled port call to give sailors and marines a few days of recreation. The crowd placed a sack over the man’s head, roughed him up, and shouted, “Yankee, go home!” while videoing the incident. The sailor is lucky the Turks did not lynch him.

The sailor himself is not to blame. He was the victim and acted professionally. The Pentagon and the House and Senate Armed Services committees should put the Navy leadership in the hot seat, though, as the incident was both predictable and avoidable.